


Circumvent

by macrauchenia



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Action/Adventure, Best Friends, Blood and Injury, CCG had the bright idea to launch another raid, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, If You Squint - Freeform, Implied HideKane because I am shipping trash, Kaneki being a complete badass to save his best friend, Still follows Manga and Anime adaptions, Suspense, What am I saying...it's totally HideKane, hidekane, investigation assistant!Hide, probably other characters in the next chapter but I'll update accordingly, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-30 22:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3954550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/macrauchenia/pseuds/macrauchenia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There’s a blond investigator out there. He’s young. Tell your team not to hurt him. Instead bring him to me. Alive.” </p><p>To Kaneki, it's just another assignment: destroy as many investigators as possible. However, the mission takes a dramatic turn when he discovers that a certain blond is among the CCG's ranks. </p><p>[A "What If" Exploration of the First Meeting Between Investigation Assistant Hideyoshi Nagachika and Kaneki Ken]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not a thing.
> 
> Author's Note: Alright. Well, first of all, not going to lie, but I don't know where this is going to go. It's either going to be ridiculously depressing or ridiculously fluffy at the end. I haven't decided which. I just recently dove into the Tokyo Ghoul fandom and realized I will never be happy again, especially thanks to a certain blond angel who is still currently missing. We need to find him right now.
> 
> Anyway, in terms of context for this story, it includes parts from the manga and the anime. This would occur before the Anteiku raid and draws heavily on the blossoming relationship between Hide, Akira, Amon, and Seidou as they work together as a team. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any of this in the anime and very little in the manga, so I wanted to flesh it out a bit more. The main component from the anime is just Kaneki working for Aogiri instead of his little team. Hopefully it makes sense.

He pulled his flimsy cloak tighter around his shoulders and exhaled in the frigid, black night. Although he wasn't particularly cold, he enjoyed the nipping chill of the faint breeze and the sensation of icy solitude as he studied the twinkling lights of the city in the distance. Everything seemed so peaceful for once.

"Oi! One-Eye!"

Kaneki inhaled deeply through his nose. It seemed as if his short-lived silence was over for the moment. He turned to face the intruder, trying to keep the annoyed scowl from stretching across his blank features. He eyed his new partner, wishing that he hadn't been assigned to work with anyone, or at least someone who wasn't as foul as the ghoul in front of him.

"Yes?"

His visitor flicked back his cloak, revealing a toothy grin and flaring eyes. Rakko. A particularly nasty ghoul with a fondness for dragging out his victims deaths, forcing them to watch as he devoured them.

"It's almost time. They'll be here soon."

The white-haired teen nodded slowly. He couldn't afford to waste time staring at the city skyline when they had a job to prepare for. "I'll be with you in a second," he finally settled on, deeming a few more moments of peace to be harmless.

If the older ghoul seemed irritated by his superior's blatant lack of excitement for the impending battle, he didn't voice his concerns. He simply lifted an unreadable eyebrow and turned away, disappearing in the dark with a flutter of his maroon cape.

Kaneki sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, his fingers gliding seamlessly through the silken strands. He tightened the strap on his mask before pulling his cloak over his forehead.

Gravel crunched and headlights dimmed as their opponents surrounded the abandoned warehouse complex. They were attempting to be stealthy, traveling in the dark without lights or sound, but in the end, they only managed to stumble into the trap, completely blinded by their caution.

This night would serve as another firm message from the Aogiri Tree.

Their mission: destroy as many investigators as possible.

The white haired teen exhaled again, feeling his breath warm the thick material on the inside of his mask.

It was hard to keep fighting when there wasn't even a purpose. No goal in sight—just more carnage and hatred.

* * *

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Amon asked, lifting an unconvinced eyebrow as he studied the younger investigator.

His subordinate flashed the man a wide smile, forcing his expression to remain light and jovial despite the solemn atmosphere. "It's just a routine check, right? Simply following up on an anonymous tip."

Amon nodded slowly, unable to bury the churning in his gut. He  _hated_  the feeling. He realized these hindering nerves only affected him when he felt like his subordinates were in danger. First when Akira was bitten by a ghoul at Kanou's lab, and then again when Seidou was ambushed during the pursuit of a rank B ghoul.

Now, Amon felt it again as the teen strapped on his helmet, concealing his shock of messy blond hair.

Before he had the chance to respond, Akira turned her blank stare on the newest addition to their team.

"You shouldn't be here," she began matter-of-factly, skewering him with narrowed blue eyes. "You have little formal training  _and_  you're just an investigation assistant. At best, you'll slow us down. Worst case scenario—you'll get us all killed."

"Now, Akira—" Amon interrupted, trying to stop his partner before she became even harsher.

"There shouldn't be anything to worry about," the youngest team member insisted, though his earlier smile seemed a little strained. "It's just a routine check," he repeated.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about," Seidou echoed, trying to reassure himself more than anyone else.

Amon sighed, shaking his head at his assembled team. He didn't know why Marude added Nagachika's name to the list of investigators that were to participate in the raid, especially since investigation assistants rarely left the office during dangerous times. All he knew was that he certainly planned to question the man on his decision when they all returned, hopefully with all of their limbs attached.

"Just…just be careful. All of you," he added, sparing a glance to a bored Akira and a pale Seidou. "And Nagachika?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to wander off."

The blond offered the dark haired man a broad grin, his eyes scrunched in a cheeky wink. "I promise!"

Amon nodded, temporarily satisfied with his team's condition. He turned back to his Quinque case, checking to make sure everything was in order.

He never caught the distracted frown that flickered across Hide's face.

 _They wouldn't be deploying this many investigators for a "routine check,"_ the boy reasoned.  _Something is definitely wrong._

* * *

As they stepped out of the armored vehicles, Hide was grateful for the thick padding of his uniform. It was far warmer than the outfit he would have worn if he hadn't been assigned to join the investigators—his civilian "stealth" ensemble as he affectionately dubbed it. One way or another, he knew he was going to participate in the CCG's raid, though he was relieved to be with fellow investigators than having to slink around in the dark by himself.

Hide exhaled in the frigid night, watching his breath swirl in the dull glow from the CCG van and the humming streetlamps.

"Nervous, Nagachika?"

Hide glanced to the brunet to his right. Although Hide was considerably apprehensive about their upcoming mission, he didn't feel nearly as nervous as his fellow investigator looked. Hide gave the young man a reassuring smile.

"A little bit," he admitted, "but the CCG investigates random tips all the time, don't they?" Hide flapped his hand at the wrist, as if dispelling any negative outcomes. "Besides, the main team already went in. We're just back up."

"H-how do you know?"

Hide blinked and scratched at his cheek with his index finger. "I, uh, just heard it on the comlink?" he offered, gesturing from his cheek to the tiny responder in his ear. He had overheard an earlier conversation that the first wave of the raid would move in at 23:00 and it was just a few minutes past that.

"Oh," Seidou glanced down at the tiny plastic piece in his palm before tucking it carefully into his ear. He listened for a moment with a distant expression before glancing back to Hide. "But I don't hear anything," he frowned at the blond.

"They must've switched to radio silence or something?" Hide shrugged, hoping the brunet would accept the answer. After another moment of listening and silent consideration, Seidou did with another nod.

"Yeah, probably."

They waited in silence for another moment until Amon and Akira joined them. Amon confirmed Hide's earlier statement with a brief report of the first wave's progress.

"So far they've had no confirmation of ghoul sightings, but they requested backup just in case. We're to assist them at the southern entrance and perform a quick sweep to the center of the building. Do you understand?"

His young subordinates nodded and Amon continued.

"At the current moment, there are no specific targets for this mission, but that is likely to change if ghouls are spotted." He hesitated before speaking next. "Our anonymous source seems to believe that the Aogiri may be involved in this warehouse, so make sure to watch for many of their higher ranked ghouls." Hide's eyes widened as he processed the news.

_Aogiri? But that might mean—_

"And above al—" Amon cut off as the sound of screams filled their earpieces. He grunted as his hand flew to his ringing comlink. He fell deathly silent, waiting for further communication. Sounds from their companions washed over them in the cold stillness. All four investigators winced as their fears were confirmed by panicked shouts and dying groans.

" _This is Squad Leader Kimu Tokana. We request back up at the south si—argh…."_

The message trailed off, much to the investigators' dismay.

Seidou swallowed thickly and glanced to the blond teen beside him. "Maybe this isn't going to be a routine check…"

Amon unlocked his Quinque case and straightened up with an ominous expression, his weapon clenched tightly in his fists.

"This is Koutarou Amon. We are on our way." He turned and surveyed his tiny team for a moment, considering each member before issuing the order to advance.

"Akira and Takizawa—you follow me. Nagachika, stay behind until we give you the signal to advance with us." He hesitated before turning back towards the warehouse. "Marude may have put you on the list, but until you have a Quinque and some proper training, you aren't coming in." Without glancing to his subordinates, Amon made his way towards the entrance.

"I understand."

"Sensible," Akira muttered, striding towards the darkened building. Seidou gave the blond one last hopeful look before trailing after them.

Hide watched them disappear in the shadows. He took a deep breath and adjusted his helmet.

_Like hell am I just going to sit here and wait._

* * *

Kaneki watched from the rafters as the investigators and ghouls fought. The only light in the dark warehouse bay was the glow from the ghouls' kagune and the human's Quinque as they slashed and tore at each other. He swept his disinterested gaze from one end of the large room to the other, not looking for anyone in particular, but simply watching the carnage build.

"Oi! One-Eye! Aren't you going to do something? Or are you just going to sit around and watch?"

The white haired teen glanced down to see Rakko smirking at him, crimson dripping from his sharpened teeth and dribbling down his pale chin.

Kaneki bristled at the ghoul's blatant lack of respect for his assigned superior. He dropped from the rafters, landing lithely in a catlike crouch before straightening up slowly.

"Do you think this is all they have?" Kaneki hissed, eyeing the shredded corpses surrounding the massive concrete room. "This is just one of the warehouse's bays. There are at least four other squads coming to other parts of the building, including several with special investigators."

Rakko had the decency to look mildly concerned. "So?"

"So," Kaneki gritted, "there will be stronger investigators coming any moment."

The older ghoul studied the white haired teen for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something when a faint buzzing erupted from the comlink buried in a nearby corpse's ear.

" _tsss—this is—tss-Koutarou Amon-tsss."_

Kaneki frowned at the familiar voice.  _Who… I know him… It's the investigator from—_

"Whudya know... More of those pigs are coming in." Rakko's bloody smile stretched across his gaunt face. "Just in time—I was starting to get hungry again."

The device's sound was distorted from the soldier's fatal injury to the head, but the ghoul could still make out what the investigators were saying.  _It might be useful…_  he mused, bending down to pick it up.

" _tsss—you follow me—tsss—Nagachika-tsss—"_

Kaneki froze and jerked his hand back.  _Nagachika….? It can't be Hide._ The device continued to crackle, relaying instructions, but Kaneki couldn't break free from the name.

"Did it shock you?" Rakko squinted at the buzzing piece of plastic. "It'd be just like them to bug their equipment so we can't use it against them."

"I—I…. No, it didn't shock me…" Kaneki slowly looked down at the device, still stained with the previous owner's blood.

 _Hide wouldn't be here. He's just a normal university student—not a_ ghoul  _investigator._

" _tsss-I understand—tsss—"_

Before he could stop himself, Kaneki's fist collided with the device, smashing it and the human's skull into tiny, jagged pieces. He blinked at his handiwork, the crimson splatter staining his uniform and exposed cheek.

It was Hide's voice.

 _Hide's_  voice.

 _Hi…de….?_ Kaneki echoed numbly, too surprised to try to rationalize why he heard his best friend's voice on the other line.

Rakko watched with thinly veiled amusement. He crossed his arms and his eyebrow rose higher on his forehead. Kaneki realized he hated the ghoul's mocking, repetitive habit.

"Care explaining?"

_I…I don't even know._

Kaneki straightened up and rubbed the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand.

"There's a blond investigator out there. He's young. Tell your team not to hurt him. Instead, ah, bring him to me.  _Alive."_

Rakko crossed his arms, a dark sneer lifting on his stained lips. "I wasn't under the impression that this was a  _take prisoners_ kind ofmission. We were told to leave no survivors."

Kaneki surged towards the older ghoul, wrapping his clenched fists into the man's cloak. Although Kaneki was significantly shorter than the other ghoul, he yanked Rakko down to his eye level. Kaneki's ghoul eye blazed crimson as he pulled Rakko in close enough to smell the sweet tang of blood on his tongue.

"I  _said,_ " Kaneki growled menacingly at his subordinate, "tell your  _team_  not to  _hurt_   _him._ " He held that pose for a moment before releasing Rakko. The taller ghoul stepped back, brushed out the wrinkles in his cloak, and glared defensively at the white haired ghoul.

"I'm just trying to be the one following orders."

"That's your new order," Kaneki spat, curling his trembling fingers into tight balls.

"Fine." The ghoul dipped his head in a mock display of submission. "As you command, One-Eye." He turned slightly, exposing an icy shoulder to the white haired ghoul. He paused for a second, perhaps weighing the cost and benefits of curiosity.

"What'd this guy ever do to you anyway?"

Kaneki hesitated before glancing away. He subconsciously reached to touch his chin, but the thick material of his mask got in the way. He brushed against the leather and fabric for a moment before dropping his hand to his side.

"He…he killed an old friend."

Rakko nodded, satisfied by the answer. After all, it was an answer that hinted at the investigator's inevitable death—just by the hands of Kaneki instead.

Kaneki watched Rakko leave before turning and dashing towards the southern side of the warehouse. It was where the other investigator said they were heading. He had to reach him first.

_Hide…what are you doing? What have you done?_

* * *

Amon surveyed the entrance in front of them with a displeased frown. Either a ghoul attack or Mother Nature had destroyed that side of the warehouse, leaving the entrance a mere crumbled pile of concrete and steel.

"We...can't get in, can we?" Seidou asked after another pause.

"No," their superior grunted, tightening his grip on his Quinque until his knuckles turned white. "We'll have to go in through another entrance. Let's try the main entrance. We should be able to find ghouls there." He hesitated before asking if Hide had heard the message.

There was a crackle of static before Hide's chipper  _"understand"_ echoed in their ears.

The investigators quickly ran to the other side of the building, managing to avoid being detected by any type of sentry.  _Probably since they're just waiting for us inside,_  Amon mused, not feeling particularly comforted by the thought.

From the moment they entered the warehouse, the investigators were in a battle for their lives. A cackling ghoul dove immediately at Seidou' exposed back and was promptly decapitated by Akira's Quinque.

"Th-thanks," he mumbled, clearly shaken by the near death experience. However, he quickly got over it, managing to fire an entire round of bullets into a nearby ghoul, too distracted by inhaling a dead soldier's intestines.

Within moments, the tiny team was covering in bruises and slashes, and the number of ghouls seemed unchanged. Conversely, the number of viable investigators was declining sharply, leaving only a few able bodied soldiers. However, after another intense round of blows, only the most experienced ghouls remained to fight the surviving investigators.

Panting and holding a shallow wound on her side, Akira surveyed the room, searching for her next opponent. She scoured the shifting shadows, keeping her chimera Quinque close at hand, ready to lash out at any sudden movement.

She never thought to look up.

"It's a pity I won't be able to consume you. Your power would lend me strength to crush your friends."

Akira's wide, icy gaze darted up, but she heard it before her eyes could register what was happening. A grinning ghoul with jagged teeth tucked his kagune back to his side just as the steel girders of the warehouse roof screeched as they grated against one another, still smoking from where he had sliced them. A large section of the beam broke free from the rest of the roof and tumbled towards a petrified Akira.

" _Akira!"_

* * *

He promised himself that he would wait at least ten minutes, at least out of courtesy for his agreement with his superior; however, after nine minutes, he couldn't handle waiting anymore. Especially if the Aogiri were present inside. It might just be his chance to finally see Kaneki—

Hide made his decision with a deep breath and a hard swallow. Staying primarily in the shadows, he skirted around the warehouse walls to the main entrance, trying desperately to not be caught without a weapon. He wasn't sure how he could help, but there had to be something he could do.

He skidded to a breathless stop in front of the warehouse entrance just in time to see a steel beam fall from the ceiling. He traced the object's path, horrified to note that it was heading straight for Akira, unmoving as the sudden death sped towards her.

Hide opened his mouth to shout, but his superior's voice cut through the din instead.

" _Akira!"_

The blond watched as the older man raced towards the girl and bodily slam into her, knocking the both of them out of the steel beam's path. It slammed into the concrete floor a mere second later, kicking up a cloud of gray, powdery debris. Hide was about to release his pent up breath when he noticed something troubling. As the smoke and dust cleared, he was relieved to note that Akira was already climbing to her feet. However, Amon was still stuck on the ground, writhing to free his pinned leg from underneath the mangled beam.

Soon realizing what had happened, Akira immediately dropped to her knees and began to strain against the heavy metal, trying to lift it enough to let her partner pull his broken leg out from underneath the steel beam.

 _She can't do it alone,_  Hide realized with another start. He felt his feet moving in the girl's direction, completely oblivious to any ghouls in his periphery.

"Seidou!" Akira's voice was shot with desperation and fear as she yanked at the metal with little success. The brunet turned slowly and his eyes widened at the sight. He moved towards the pair, but another ghoul launched herself at him, keeping the young investigator distracted.

By then, Hide had made it to the steel beam. At the sight of the young man, Akira started and jerked up from her crouched position by Amon.

"Nagachika?"

Amon stirred at the girl's voice and sent a half-hearted glare in the boy's direction. Before he could reprimand the blond for disobeying orders, Hide dropped to his knees and dug his fingers in the twisted metal.

"Take that end and lift," he urged the blonde investigator, giving her an encouraging smile.

Akira nodded once and reclaimed her place on the opposite side. However, even with the boy's assistance, they could not lift the beam off Amon's leg.

"Seidou!" Akira shouted again, scanning the emptying warehouse for their partner. Within seconds, the brunet crashed to his knees beside them, panting and bleeding from a slice to the forehead.

"On three?" Seidou offered, to which the others responded with determined nods.

Keeping an eye on the battlefield, Hide strained with the others to lift the steel girder off their superior. After a moment of tense pulling and grunting, the heavy metal groaned and rose, giving the decorated investigator just enough time to hastily drag his leg away.

Unable to hold the beam any longer, the three junior partners dropped the metal and quickly pulled their toes back before they were crushed.

"We need to get him out of here," Akira panted, glancing from Hide to Seidou.

Seidou's bright gaze shifted from his partners to his fallen superior. "Nagachika and I can take him if you can watch our backs."

"I can do that," Akira nodded, bending down to scoop up her Quinque. Her expressionless mask returned as she surveyed the remaining ghouls.

A low cackle echoed around them, causing the hair to rise on the back of Hide's neck.

"Isn't it sweet? A bunch of juniors trying to save their senior. It'd be easier to just leave him to  _me._ "

Akira slanted her chin down, revealing a frosty cold gaze. She wouldn't let herself be a victim to this ghoul twice.

The blood-covered ghoul tilted his head as he considered the young woman before him.

"Hmm… _Blonde_ , but not a boy. Too bad."

Ignoring the man's words, Akira let a confident smirk temporarily slip across her pressed lips. She studied his kagune, noting the writhing tentacles, poised to strike.

"Hmm…" she mimicked in an equally condescending tone. "A  _rinkaku_ kagune. Too bad." The girl's blue eyes flared dangerously as her expression darkened. "You could've been a fine Quinque if you were a bikaku instead."

The ghoul's eyes widened in fury, no doubt remembering a comrade who had been turned into a CCG weapon. He pulled back the multiple strands of his kagune before swinging them in Akira's direction. She swiped at the largest protrusion, barely grazing it with the tip of her Quinque, before the ghoul's kagune changed directions. With a playful swat, it struck the struggling procession of Amon, Seidou, and Hide, all trying to drag the former to safety.

"No!" Akira shouted, reaching out to her partners as the ghoul's kagune crashed into them. All three went flying. Seidou, who took the brunt of the hit, uttered a weak groan before falling still. The blonde raced towards them, swinging her Quinque behind her, managing to temporarily drive off the last lingering tentacles. She skidded to a stop, spinning back around to face the ghoul, gloatingly snapping his kagune as he approached the girl.

Hide groaned and rolled onto his stomach, sluggishly regaining a hold on his senses. Although he had been thrown the furthest from the rest of the group, he had managed to roll a few feet, lessening the force of a sudden impact. He blinked at the ongoing action, clearing the stars in his vision just in time to see Akira grunt as she jerked her Quinque at the ghoul's darting tentacles.

_She can't hold him off for long._

Hide swallowed and took a steadying breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Seidou's discarded gun. Hoping to not distract the ghoul prematurely, he carefully slid his body towards it. He stared down at the unfamiliar weapon, wishing he had asked the brunet earlier how to work it. If he didn't figure it out soon, the rest of his tiny team would be dead.

"It looks like I'll get to eat you after all," the ghoul smirked, revealing his jagged, uneven teeth in a grotesque smile.

"You probably wouldn't like me."

"You don't know that. I'll just have to try and see if I like the taste."

Hide scanned the gun again and pulled on the trigger. Instead of firing as he hoped, the gun gave a loud click, indicating an empty clip.

_Dammit._

He looked back to the ghoul, worried that the sound might have alerted the creature, but he was too consumed with the thought of eating a full meal to turn his head.

"I'm a bit tough to chew."

"I'll just have to soften you up then."

"Tch," the girl spat, bending slightly at her knees to prepare for her next attack.

Hide glanced back down at the gun in his hands. He couldn't shoot it, but there was another option. Rearing back his shoulder and arm, he launched the useless weapon in the ghoul's direction. It hit its target, smashing into the back of the ghoul's head and falling to the ground with a metallic clatter.

There was a moment of silence as all eyes slowly turned on the young investigator.

Hide was the first to react, taking a hesitant step back. The ghoul, either infuriated to be distracted from his meal or embarrassed by being attacked by an empty gun, snarled at the boy and took a menacing step to compensate for the human's hasty retreat.

His kagune relaxed as his body quivered with rage. Seeing an opportunity to catch the ghoul off guard, Akira tensed her muscles. With a low grunt, she swung her Quinque with all her might at the distracted ghoul. However, without even tearing his thunderous glare from Hide, the ghoul caught the writhing weapon in his flaring tentacles. He yanked the girl's weapon, forcing her to release it from her grip to prevent being dragged into one of his spikes. He flicked the weapon out of the investigator's reach, keeping one projection dagger sharp and poised at the girl's throat to keep her still.

"Would you mind waiting for a moment?" The ghoul began casually as he advanced on Hide. "I have to deal with a small problem, but then I promise I'll turn my attention back to you," he assured the young woman.

Hide tore his wide gaze from the ghoul for a moment to briefly scan the empty warehouse. As he had hoped, his team and the ghoul were the only living things left in the room. If he drew the monster away, it could be enough time for Akira to get the others out. His eye caught on a darkened doorframe with the door discarded to the side, completely ripped off its hinges. He wasn't sure where it would lead, or if it was just a dead end, but he had to try it.

To try to throw off the ghoul, he turned his head towards the warehouse entrance from where he had come. The ghoul followed the teen's line of vision, catching sight of the path to freedom. The ghoul's stained smile grew as he backed towards the door, intending to cut the teen off. Instead, he only managed to put more distance between the two of them.

As he had hoped, the ghoul had moved further away, banking on the boy's human instinct to retreat to a familiar location. His little trick had only spared him a few seconds of a head start, but he prayed it would be enough to outrun an inhuman ghoul. The blond inhaled deeply to steady his nerves before darting in the opposite direction.

" _Nagachika!"_  Akira's scream barely broke through his concentration.

Hide's combat boots squeaked loudly as he ran through puddles of sticky, spilt crimson. He pumped his legs and arms furiously, ducking around the door's corner. He paused for a millisecond to take stock of his surroundings, relieved to see the door led to a wide hallway with multiple exits. He squinted in the darkness, feeling blind after escaping from the faint glow of the illuminated main bay of the warehouse complex.

He could hear the enraged roar of the ghoul close behind him as the monster struggled to catch up. Hide studied the rooms, quickly considering which exit to take. He sprinted towards the second door, again relying on the ghoul's superficial knowledge of human behavior to search the closest door first. Hide burst into another empty concrete bay, significantly smaller than the previous one. Unlike the first, however, this one was brightly lit by nearby streetlamps pouring directly into the broken glass windows. Hide narrowed his eyes in the overwhelming light and searched for another exit. His adjusting gaze landed on an obscure door on the second pass and he raced towards it.

His trembling fingertips scraped the cold handle when something sharp impaled his calf. A pained cry sprung from the boy's dry lips, which rose to a louder scream when the kagune yanked him back, ripping deeper into his pale flesh and muscle. Hide crashed to the ground, falling face first on the cool concrete with a low grunt. The piercing tentacle released its grip on the teen's leg, giving the boy a weak respite and enabling him time to twist into a seated position.

"You thought you could hide?" The ghoul sneered as he entered the room fully. He retracted his blood-dripping tentacle, running a thin finger over the crimson stained kagune and licking the liquid off the digit. He made a deep throated hum of approval at the taste before smiling again, revealing his trademark, sinister sneer.

"It was the blood. On your shoes, on your body. The scent of it was  _everywhere._ " Hide glanced down at the floor, horrified to notice incomplete crimson footsteps lining the concrete from the door, ending at the larger pool of his own blood.

The boy scrambled backwards, using his palms and the heel on his uninjured leg to gain purchase.

"Still, it was hard to finally catch you." The ghoul continued, unconcerned by the teen's fruitless attempts to escape. "You're a smart boy, and I think I'll reward you by eating you nice and  _slow!"_  On the last word, the ghoul's kagune shot out from his waist and wrapped themselves around Hide's neck and torso. The teen gasped and struggled in the tight grip, trying to free himself with no success.

The ghoul flung the boy behind him, relishing the loud  _smack_  as the boy's soft frame collided with the concrete wall. The older man followed the sporadic blood trail to the prone investigator and frowned. During the impact, the teen's helmet had come slightly undone, revealing a vibrant shock of blond hair. The ghoul tilted his head and stared at the exposed hair with a blank expression.

Rakko considered the faint rise and fall of the human's chest, repeating his superior's violent warning over and over in his mind. It would be so easy to eat the teenager completely, leaving no evidence apart from a few fingers, but the ghoul knew he would be risking his own life for a mere meal.

"Pity."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There’s a blond investigator out there. He’s young. Tell your team not to hurt him. Instead bring him to me. Alive.”
> 
> To Kaneki, it's just another assignment: destroy as many investigators as possible. However, the mission takes a dramatic turn when he discovers that a certain blond is among the CCG's ranks.
> 
> [A "What If" Exploration of the First Meeting Between Investigation Assistant Hideyoshi Nagachika and Kaneki Ken]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not a thing.
> 
> Author's Note: Oh my gosh! Thank you so much for the amazing feedback! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this so far! Hopefully this next chapter won't disappoint!

 

* * *

Kaneki's boots pounded the concrete floor of the warehouse as he raced towards the south entrance. His labored breaths echoed around him, but they weren't quite loud enough to drown out his troubled thoughts.

_Hide… What are you doing here?_

A uniformed human stepped into the half-ghoul's path, swinging a glowing Quinque with a determined expression.

Kaneki almost growled out loud at the looming barrier.  _I don't have time for this._ With an agitated grunt, the half-ghoul leapt to the side, nearly avoiding being impaled by the weapon. When the man gave no indication of backing down, Kaneki's scowl deepened as he made his decision.

_I need to get to Hide now. I can't drag this out any longer._

Kaneki's kagune erupted from his back in an explosion of steam and crimson. His narrowed gaze landed on the investigator's right leg before darting back to the his face. Usually Kaneki simply broke their Quinques, rendering them incapable of fighting. Although his form of mercy often got him into trouble with his less sympathetic superiors in Aogiri Tree, he preferred the substantial lack of blood and death that often triggered his rawer side.

He had a sickening feeling Aogiri would be pleased with his next action.

Diverting the investigator's attention with one of his rinkaku protrusions, he knocked the man's Quinque out of his hands with another piece of his kagune. The human fumbled for something in his pocket to protect himself against Kaneki, but the half-ghoul quickly finished his attack by wrapping one of his razor-sharp tentacles around the man's upper leg. With a half-mumbled apology in his mind, Kaneki jerked his kagune back, cleanly amputating the man at the mid-thigh.

The investigator toppled to the ground with a pained cry as crimson drops exploded from the wound. Kaneki stumbled back, his keen senses temporarily overwhelmed by the sight of blood and loose flesh.

_bLOood! BlOoD!_

Kaneki mashed his lips together, gritting his teeth behind his leather mask. It was getting harder and harder suppress the bloodthirsty screams rattling in his skull.

How long had it been since he last ate?

_ToO lONg…_

_FaR tOO L-LoNg…._

_(He won't need that leg anymore…)_

Kaneki forcefully shook his head with a deep-throated growl to dislodge the inhuman desires. He didn't have time to eat, nor could he trust himself to stop with a single, discarded limb. The investigator, who had previously been drilling the half-ghoul with a resolute, unafraid glare, faltered at the sight of the conflicted teen backing away. The unnaturalness of a ghoul abandoning an easy kill frightened the seasoned investigator.

Even as he turned away from the injured human, Kaneki could almost feel the disbelieving shock thunder across the man's features before morphing back into unadulterated hatred.

Kaneki certainly could feel the burn of rage aimed at his back.

_Let him hate me for not killing him. I have other things to attend to._

Leaving the bleeding man to his own fate, Kaneki quickly scanned the warehouse to regain his bearings.

_Damn him for throwing me off. Which way was I going?_

The white-haired teen squeezed his eyes shut, fully aware of how dangerous it was to do so in a room filled with armed investigators, and concentrated on his memorized layout of the warehouse complex. Satisfied with his hastily produced map, Kaneki spun on his heels and rushed past several ongoing battles. He ignored the eager cries of his companions, requesting for his assistance. He drowned out the screams and grunts of pain as both sides ripped flesh from one another.

Once, an overly ambitious investigator tried to catch him unaware. However, Kaneki caught the glowing glint of the Quinque in his periphery vision. His kagune responded accordingly, bursting from his mid-back and meeting the victim with a warm squelch. Not even bothering to tear his gaze from the path ahead, Kaneki retracted his weapon and tried to ignore the sweet liquid dribbling down his kagune.

He couldn't afford to be distracted.

Finally Kaneki reached the south entrance, skidding to a stop in the dim warehouse bay. His wide eyes absorbed every detail and every slumped body. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see blond or not.

_I don't see him…_

Kaneki inhaled deeply, trying to catch a scent of his best friend, but the tantalizing scent of human blood distracted him too much to concentrate.

Another, harsher thought nagged in the back of the boy's mind, bubbling its way to the surface with painful malice.

_It's been so long since you've seen Hide. You've probably forgotten what he smells like._

Trying to avoid the inevitable wave of panic, Kaneki squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled again, pouring all of his concentration in dragging up the memories of his best friend.

_How long's it been? Months, at least._

He could see Hide's wide grin and crinkled eyes, though the corners of the human's face seemed a little blurry. Kaneki pushed deeper into his memories, savagely shoving aside the hissing, snickering murmurs of his mind's manifestations of Yamori and Rize.

_But can't you remember how_ delicious  _your friend smelled?_

_You wanted to eat. Him. All. Up._

Kaneki's eyes flew open and he wisely decided to give up on searching by scent. His gaze wandered towards the destroyed entrance, noting the rubble and mangled steel. To a ghoul, it was a minor barrier. However, to a human, it was impassible.

_His squad probably couldn't enter this way. They must've come in another way._

Kaneki resisted the urge to curse under his breath. If he had been in more control, he could have kept the dead investigator's comlink and tracked Hide more effectively. Instead, Kaneki had crushed the device at the mere sound of his best friend's voice, allowing human emotions like shock from superficial betrayal to overwhelm him.

_You didn't want Rakko learning where he was. He can't be trusted—he would have killed Hide and called it an accident just for spite,_ he countered in his head, trying to convince himself that he did the right thing.

He squinted in the dim light, scouring the assembled investigator bodies to find another viable communication device. After another brief moment of silence, he heard the metallic crackle of an earpiece's static.

Kaneki rushed towards the sound, quickly prying the piece of tight-fitting plastic away from the corpse's cold ear. He pressed the crimson stained device to his ear, waiting breathlessly for a voice he recognized.

A hoarse scream echoed through the warehouse complex. It wasn't loud by any means, but something about it seemed familiar to Kaneki. Familiar enough to trigger his inhuman senses and cause the hairs on the back of his neck to rise.

The comlink slipped from Kaneki's limp fingers.

He may have forgotten the exact smell of his best friend, but he couldn't forget the sound of his voice.

* * *

_"Nagachika!"_

Despite the risks to herself, Akira's first reaction was to jerk towards the action, towards the defenseless teen. However, she forced her trembling limbs to remain still as their most inexperienced teammate dashed out of sight, pursued by a ruthless, starving ghoul.

_You'll never see him again._

Akira cursed under her breath, curling her limp fingers into hard fists. She wanted to follow him, but her own injuries would only have put them both in danger.

_You can't help him now. He gave you the chance to get the others out—so_ take it!

She forced her body into action, lurching towards Seidou first. He was still unconscious, but as she gingerly rolled him to the side, she was relieved to note that the faint trickle of blood from his hairline had already began to dry.

Grunting at the effort, Akira wound her arms underneath Seidou's splayed limbs and tugged him backwards.

_At least he isn't heavy._

It was a struggle to move the investigator's deadweight without aggravating the pain in her own damaged leg. Each inch gained felt like it took an eternity, even though Akira was fairly sure she had only been dragging her teammate for a few seconds. She tossed a hopeful glance over her shoulder, pleased to realize that she was only a few feet from the warehouse entrance.

A loud scream echoed through the warehouse complex, causing the blonde investigator to falter mid-tug and drop her hovering foot with a heavy  _thud._

_Nagachika…._

Akira swallowed thickly and focused her bright gaze down on her unconscious teammate.

She had no doubts in her mind now that Nagachika's actions were intended to be suicidal. She should have known there was no possible way he could have expected to survive after leading the ghoul away from the rest of his injured team.

_That…he…_

She took a shallow, calming breath to steady her whirling mind.

_Get a hold of yourself. I have to get the others out before that monster comes back. It'll only be a matter of time._

With another muted grunt, she poured every bit of her broiling rage and regret from not being able to save the blond in her aching muscles. Although her actions were jerky and tense, she yanked her unconscious teammate faster across the concrete floor. Dropping him off at a safe distance a few feet from the entrance, Akira spun on her heels and limped towards her superior.

He was barely conscious, though from his pinched, pale expression and his roaming, sightless eyes, Akira realized he was too far out of it to fully comprehend the situation.

"We have to go  _now,_ " she urged in a firm whisper. She had no idea how long they had until the ghoul returned.

Amon's dark eyes focused on her face and he gave an imperceptible nod, breaking free from his stupor in an impressive show of control. Akira looped her arms underneath her superior's armpits and strained to pull him towards the entrance. Although he was significantly heavier and bulkier than Seidou, the investigator was able to help by pushing himself across the floor with his uninjured limbs.

Still, their progress was painstakingly slow. Each squeak of Amon's foot slipping against the pooled blood and Akira's labored grunts echoed loudly in the deathly silent warehouse. It wasn't as if they needed to be quiet—after all, the ghoul knew exactly where they were. However, it was easier to hear for any suspicious sounds in the silence. Sounds like footsteps or eager lip smacking.

They were only a few feet from the entrance when the sound of crunching gravel filled the empty warehouse. Hazy rays from vehicle headlights illuminated the bay, bouncing around the metallic girders of the warehouse. Immediately, armored soldiers and paramedics poured from the idling vans.

Akira would have collapsed in exhausted relief if she hadn't been supporting Amon. Their reinforcements were finally here; even if the ghouls returned, she would already be on her way back to the CCG headquarters.

_"Here's one of ours. Unconscious, but alive."_

Akira squinted at the entrance, suddenly blinded as a bright light stabbed at her unadjusted eyes. She narrowed her eyes at the flashlight beams as shadows poured into the warehouse. One of the lights dimmed as a blurry figure approached her.

"Mado-san?" She recognized the voice as belonging to a fellow investigator. Slowly her eyes acclimated to the change in lighting, absorbing the worried young man in front of her.

"Are you injured?"

Akira shook her head automatically, considered the question, and then frowned. "Tend to my teammates first," she answered instead.

"We've already loaded one of them in the ambulance." He considered the blonde and her superior. "Are you the only two left?"

"No! There's anoth—" Akira quickly began, twisting her head to the exit where she had seen her other teammate disappear. However, she was cut off mid-sentence as paramedics swarmed her, gently pulling Amon out of her grasp. Another medic knelt down by her leg, prodding her bleeding injury carefully with a gloved finger.

"We need to get this stitched up now," he muttered, straightening up.

"Wait, there's an—" she tried again, growing frustrated at being drowned out. The man continued to ignore her protests and forcefully bustled her towards the parked vehicles. Unable to do much else, Akira reluctantly complied, tossing another desperate glance over her shoulder at the darkened doorframe. More investigators entered the warehouse bay, spreading out through the room to search each huddled mass for signs of life. Several had already disappeared through the back exit.

Akira watched them go, knowing they would either return with Nagachika's half-eaten corpse or his barely breathing body.

She sighed and allowed the medic to guide her to the van. There wasn't anything else she could do but wait.

* * *

As he raced back through the warehouse complex, he had to avoid even more investigators as they hovered over the wounded and deceased. Sticking close to the shadows, Kaneki leapt from the metal catwalks to the elevated support beams, creating his own route through the enemy inhabited industrial building. A few alarmed shouts echoed below him as the humans caught his erratic movements. Twice, muzzle flares caught in his periphery as half-hearted bullets ricocheted around the steel rafters, but for the most part, Kaneki was left alone by the preoccupied investigators.

They each had their own missions to accomplish.

Kaneki dropped from one of the metal girders with a soft  _thud_  before straightening up. Not even pausing to brush the dust and grime off his cloak, he continued his hurried journey towards the sound of his friend's scream a few moments earlier.

He almost burst into the room, but controlled his hasty entrance in the last second. Kaneki threw himself backwards into the shadows, breathing through his nose to not attract any fatal attention. Several uniformed investigators were milling around a puddle of blood while another scratched at a clipboard with a pen.

"There's no one else here."

There were a few mumbled words too hard to make out. Kaneki strained his ears to catch the next utterance.

"Time to move out then?"

"No…not yet. Let's split up to search the next room and then meet back here. Maybe someone'll know what actually happened." The investigator sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. Kaneki couldn't make out his face, but it didn't matter, as he was only looking for one particular individual.

The other humans grunted their agreement to their comrade and together they left the room. Releasing a pent up breath slowly in the dank air of the warehouse bay, Kaneki crept from the shadows and stared down at the puddle of blood they had been standing over.

_He's not here anymore._

Kaneki took a tentative sniff, hating the unavoidable rumble in his gut at the vivid, alluring smell of freshly spilt blood.

_If he had been here, the investigators would have taken him with them. A ghoul must have gotten him first then._ The thought of his subordinates following his orders was strangely unnerving.

He swallowed thickly, inhaling again to catch another whiff of human blood. He couldn't help it.

He chastised himself for dwelling far longer than necessary on the scent.  _It's_ Hide's _blood,_ he angrily reminded himself.  _You shouldn't be enjoying it! It means he's in danger._

It had been so long since he had any contact with his best friend. This stunted reunion seemed far too cruel, far too inhuman.

Kaneki froze as the realization struck him. He had been so concerned about finding Hide, he hadn't stopped to consider  _what_  his friend would see as his guardian angel.

_He…he would see me. As a ghoul._

_No… After all this time. After all I did to keep him safe—he would find out. He would hate me._

_Hide would hate me._

Doubt blossomed in his mind, twisting his friend's bright smile into a furtive smirk. The looming feelings of betrayal writhed in his gut as he thought back to his first reactions upon hearing Hide's voice on the comlink.

_But_ why _is he here? Hide would never join the CCG unless—_

_Unless he already knows._

The reverberations of his pounding heart echoed loudly in his chest, repeating the sentence as if each word were a separate beat.

_Unless. He. Already. Knows._

_Unless. He. Already._ Knows.

Kaneki dismissed the thoughts with a vicious shake of his head, causing the zipper on his mask to rasp and rattle against the leather binding.

_It's impossible. He_ can't  _know. If he knew, he's never go looking for a monster like me,_  he concluded.  _Hide was just in the wrong place at the wrong time._

_(Was he looking for me?)_

Kaneki's fingers rose to the strap on his mask and thoughtfully drummed against the thick fabric. Although he preferred the anonymity from his trademark mask, he felt that if he kept it on any longer, he would suffocate in the stale, leather-tasting air. He had no idea on how to save his best friend, but taking the mask off and breathing in the fresh air helped to suppress the icy panic clawing its way up his windpipe.

He inhaled and exhaled twice, relishing the peace and silence, before turning away from the puddle of blood.

He had to find Hide, regardless of the cost.

* * *

The moment the needle made its last round through her skin, Akira jumped off the table, ignoring the indignant squawks of the paramedic, and marched towards the first investigator she saw.

"Yori-san!"

The investigator turned casually, partially still invested in his current conversation. However, at the sight of the blonde's determined expression, his smile dropped as he stiffened in respectful attention.

"Akira-san," he blinked, glancing from the woman's still raw injury to her stony stare. "Are you badly inj—"

"Do you know the status of my squad?" she interrupted, preferring to get straight to the point.

"Oh, uh, yes!" Slightly flustered by her directness, the investigator fumbled with the clipboard in his hands. He scanned the listed names with squinting eyes, murmuring each name before jumping to the next. Akira waited with pursed lips, her patience ticking away with each syllable.

"Uh, let's see… Erm… Oh! Here!" The investigator's gaze darted briefly to Akira's unimpressed expression before returning to the report.

"Koutarou Amon… Injured, but not in critical condition by any means. It seems like just a minor fracture to the left tibia." Despite herself, Akira felt an eyebrow rise in mild surprise. She had been fairly certain that the beam would have caused more damage to her superior's leg than that.

"Seidou Takizawa… He was still unconscious last time we checked, but his vitals seemed to be strong." Akira released a small sigh of relief, grateful that the annoying brunet seemed to be fine as well. She hesitated before asking for the third name.

"And Hideyoshi Nagachika?"

The investigator scanned through the names twice before shaking his head. "No… I'm sorry. He isn't on here." He looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, though Akira attributed it the uncertainty of the mission as a whole.

Akira nodded before forcing a weak smile to ease her comrade's nervous frown. "Thank you for looking, Yori-san." She turned to leave, but paused, lips parting as she considered her next words.

"Is there someone else you want me to look for?"

"No," Akira began slowly, "but I was curious about your list. Is everyone who took part in the mission supposed to be on it?"  _Maybe Nagachika wasn't supposed to even go with us after all._

Yori avoided her gaze and swallowed. Akira studied the pale man as a lump visibly rose and fell in his throat.

"Only the wounded." He licked his lips and nodded to a somber investigator behind him. "He has the list of the fatalities."

She followed his gesture, locking onto the man with narrowed eyes. Thanking the man again for his time, Akira set off towards the new investigator.

"Is that the updated list of fatalities?"

"So far, yes." He glanced at her and pulled his pen from the paper. He offered her the clipboard, knowing far too well what the bright glint in her eye meant. Akira quickly grabbed it with a murmured "thank you" and began to scan the list of names. Although she recognized a few of the deceased investigators, there had been many more on the injured list.

She frowned when she reached the end. She flipped the piece of paper back and forth, glancing at the stark white backside and the faint pen indentations on the clean page underneath.

_He…isn't on here either…?_

"Is this all…?"

The investigator nodded once, then twice. "They're still pulling a few bodies from inside. As they come out, I record the names," he answered.

"I see."

Akira glanced back towards the main warehouse entrance. The paramedics and her uninjured comrades were routinely carting out lumpy black bags and covered masses on stretchers. It was only a matter of time, she supposed, before they brought out her fallen teammate.

Determined to be of some use, she strode back inside the warehouse, carefully stepping over puddles of spilt crimson and the lifeless corpses of the dead ghouls. She paused at the threshold that Nagachika had disappeared through before crossing into a hallway.

Akira glanced down and mashed her lips at the crusty trail of dried maroon footprints leading to the second door. Although in the darkness they would have been imperceptible to the human gaze, the footsteps would have been a simple path to follow for a ghoul with sharp senses. Now in the blinding light of the CCG emergency lamps, she could see how easily Nagachika had led the ghoul to a fresh kill.

Upon entering the secondary warehouse bay, she quickly spotted the investigators hovering over something in the corner. Suppressing the squirming weakness in her stomach, Akira marched towards them, forcing a hardened frown across her features to prepare for the inevitable.

Along the way, she almost felt as if something was watching her. She turned her gaze towards the steel rafters before shaking her head, dismissing the ridiculous sensation. She was only stalling, knowing perfectly well what she was trying to avoid seeing. Akira resumed her traveling with another soft sigh.

However, once she reached the circle of coworkers, she stumbled to a stop at the puzzling sight in front of her.

Instead of spying Nagachika's mangled, partially consumed corpse, she only saw a puddle of dark crimson. To the side, she spotted the young man's discarded helmet, which had rolled a few feet from the thick liquid. One of the paramedics noticed her presence and offered her a grim smile.

"Did you already move the body here?"

He shook his head and turned his gaze back to the puddle. "No, there wasn't anything here. Strange, don't you think?"

Akira frowned at the man's words.  _There wasn't anything here?_  She glanced back towards the discarded helmet and the trail of blood droplets leading to another puddle on the other side of the room.

She didn't want to raise her hopes that he had managed to escape, especially considering that Nagachika was inexperienced and unarmed. However, she reminded herself that the young man  _had_  joined their team upon suspicious circumstances  _and_  he was absent from both complied lists of casualties.

Akira bent down to scoop up the teen's discarded helmet before straightening up and pinning the nearest person with a firm stare.

"Hideyoshi Nagachika—he's a missing investigation assistant."

"Ma'am…they're still a lot of missing investi—" he began cautiously, holding his hands out in a placating manner towards the blonde.

"He isn't here and there's no blood trail leading to a body. Ghouls don't just drag dead investigators to their hellholes for midnight snacks," she snapped, shoving the helmet into the paramedic's outstretched hands. "He's somewhere, so  _find him."_

Spinning on her heel and trying not to stagger from the jagged dart of pain from her reopening injury, Akira stalked out of the warehouse bay.

She needed to find her superior.

* * *

With clenched fingers wrapped in collar of the human's uniform, Rakko studied his new possession with an unamused lift of an eyebrow.

This _is what One-Eye wanted alive? He's barely more than an appetizer._

Rakko brought the boy closer to his face, peering at the blond's bruised and blood crusted face.

_How could_ this _kill another ghoul? He didn't even have a weapon._

Rakko continued to examine the unconscious human. With each deep inhalation of the boy's sweetly scented blood, his hunger grew and his desire to follow One-Eye's orders weakened.

Thankfully, he only had to wait a few moments for his superior to arrive. One-Eye skidded to a stop, his leather half-mask dangling from his clenched fingers as he glared at Rakko.

"Rakko," the younger ghoul growled, the earlier fury tinging his normally passive tone.

"Ahh, One-Eye," Rakko lazily drawled, allowing a carefree smile to stretch across his crimson flecked lips. "I believe our mission was a success. We killed many investigators despite—"

_"Drop him."_ The words were frigid and sharp.

"Hmm?" Rakko feigned surprise, enjoying how his superior was struggling to reign in his conflicting emotions.

"I  _said, drop_  him."

"As you wish," Rakko echoed his previous statement, making sure to layer enough false sincerity to cause the half-ghoul's eye to twitch. He lifted the limp human a few inches in the air and loosened his fingers. The blond crumpled to the ground in a dark gray and crimson pile, remaining still and quiet.

Rakko glanced back towards his superior, noting the twisted, pale expression on One-Eye's face.  _It looks…it almost looks like he's scared. Of what though?_

_Could that weakling have actually killed another ghoul?_

He didn't know much about One-Eye. Even the rumors surrounding the half-ghoul's mysterious rise to prominence in Aogiri's ranks seemed vague at best. Obviously, there was something between his superior and the unconscious human.

Rakko intended to find out what that connection was.

* * *

For a terrifying moment, Kaneki feared that he was too late. When he reached the room they had previously established as home base, all he could smell was his best friend's blood. As he burst into the room, barely holding back his ragged pants, Kaneki's narrowed eyes fell on Rakko's triumphant grin as he held the suspended human in the air.

The ghoul made a sardonic comment, but Kaneki didn't hear it. Instead, his attention was focused on his unconscious best friend, bleeding and bruised after being forcefully apprehended by Rakko.

_I thought I told him not to hurt him,_ Kaneki growled in his mind. Once he figured out how to get Hide out of the psychopath's malicious grasp, he would make sure to punish his subordinate for failure to follow orders.

_"Drop him,"_  Kaneki heard himself mutter in a low, deepened voice. He repeated the demand when the ghoul feigned ignorance, straining to control the writhing anger coursing through his veins.

After another silent standoff of wills, Rakko sighed and tossed the human towards Kaneki. The sight of his best friend collapsing like a torn ragdoll caught Kaneki by surprise, causing a lump to rise in his throat. He quickly swallowed it and steeled his expression back to casual disinterest, but he was painfully aware that Rakko had caught his divulging flicker of emotion.

After all, there had to be a reason for the ghoul's muted smirk.

Kaneki tore his suspicious glare from the ghoul and glanced down at his beaten best friend. The prone human smelt so strongly of blood that it turned his stomach, forcing Kaneki to breathe shallowly through his mouth.

"I don't know what's such a big deal about him. He's just some shrimpy human," Rakko made a face at the unconscious investigator before shaking his head in disbelief.

"But… I think  _Ayato-san_  will want to see your new pet," he tossed over his shoulder on the way to the door.

Kaneki waited until the ghoul's sharp, echoing footsteps died down before dropping to his knees beside his best friend. He held a trembling hand over the boy's still shoulder before retracting it.

"Hide…?" Kaneki whispered weakly instead, half hoping the teen wouldn't stir. He still had too much to sort out in his mind before he could begin to share everything that had happened to him in the past few months.

The blond remained silent, face relaxed in a peaceful expression with his pale lips faintly parted.

Kaneki swallowed before gently tucking his arms around his best friend. With a soft grunt, he hoisted Hide into the air with one arm supporting the boy's knees while another cradled his shoulder blades. Unable to restrain himself, Kaneki buried his face into the blond's soft hair, inhaling the sweet fragrance of his shampoo. He wondered how he could ever forget the scent of his best friend, the scent of home. It was so comforting to feel the warmth pouring from the human's body as Kaneki held Hide against his chest. He tried to ignore the hot, sticky dribble of liquid that trailed from the human's leg and down Kaneki's sleeve.

The last time Kaneki had seen his best friend so damaged and battered was after Nishiki had ambushed them. Kaneki had failed them both by being too weak, and it had almost gotten Hide killed.

No matter what it took, he wouldn't fail him again.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Also, thanks for your reviews, bookmarks, and kudos! Let me know what you think!
> 
> (Side note... Distressed!Kaneki is such a mess to write, 'cause that boy's mind is everywhere. Also, so psyched to finally start exploring that CCG team dynamics with Hide/Akira/Amon/Seidou. They're the cutest.)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *kicks down door* hIDE'S BACK AND SO AM I.
> 
> But for real, I'm so happy with what's going on in the manga. I know it's been a while, but with all those prime Hide interactions going on right now, I couldn't help but come back to this.
> 
> Apologies for any roughness in the storytelling or characterization. I hope you enjoy!

 

* * *

Akira had the audacity to be surprised when her stitches came out after stomping around the warehouse for an hour, searching for any clues about her missing teammate. When the medics forcefully escorted her to the nearest ambulance, they decided to prevent any further damage by sending her directly to the hospital for treatment. She loudly protested, but they shut the ambulance doors regardless.

With such a containable injury, Akira's treatment was done by the time the ambulance pulled into the special emergency lot, dedicated solely to the CCG. Thanking her pseudocaptors with a curt nod, she slipped out of the back and limped towards the entrance. If she couldn't keep looking for Nagachika, at least she could find the rest of her team.

Akira pushed through the glass doors and blinked, lost amidst the hurrying nurses and scattered gurneys on the main emergency room floor. Although she had been brought back this way once or twice after disastrous missions, she had never been conscious. She tried to find the path of least nuisance, skirting around a gasping agent clutching her stomach and tiptoeing around a doctor barking orders to the nearby nurses.

Akira slipped through another set of doors, relieved to be in a more familiar part of the CCG ward of the hospital. She moved slowly down the long hallway, glancing from room to room. Nurses and doctors milled quietly about, checking on their stabilized patients. After escaping the chaos of the receiving terminal, the main corridor was almost peaceful.

Almost.

_"What do you mean I can't have my phone!? I need to contact my partner!"_

"Sir…"

Akira's lips quirked upwards at the familiar voice. She knocked on the door, coming face to face with an exasperated nurse.

"Are you his partner? Or family?"

Akira shook her head. "No, but he used to work with my fa—"

The nurse did a quick survey of Akira before shrugging. "Good enough. Keep him distracted until we come back with some stronger sedative." She slid past Akira, calling for another doctor.

Akira entered the room, brow scrunching at the sight of one of her father's old friends, grumbling and grunting as he rooted through his discarded uniform. He glanced up and grinned at the sight of her.

"Akira! You've grown!"

She smiled thinly. "I didn't know you were participating in this mission, Tanaka-san."

He nodded before sitting up, tossing his jacket to the floor. "I was supposed to be part of the reinforcements, but somehow ended up on the front line. Higher ups did a pretty shitty job of planning."

"So I've heard."  _We weren't the only team that had strange orders then._ "I hope you weren't too injured."

Tanaka sighed before flipping back the blankets. Akira frowned at the absence before she realized there was supposed to be the rest of a leg attached to his swaddled thigh.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Akira murmured, ducking her head.

He shrugged before tucking the blankets gingerly back around the stump. "Ehh, the ghoul did me a favor. The knee was going bad anyway. Now maybe I'll get some vacation time and the CCG will cover my replacement surgery." His forced smile faded as his shoulders crumpled. Akira watched him silently as his confident bravado slipped.

"Don't know what the hell I'm laughing about. I'm lucky to be alive. Could've sworn that kid was going to come back and finish the job. But instead he left me bleeding all over the damn floor."

"Kid?" Akira tilted her head, curious at the shift in tone. "He didn't try to kill you?"

Tanaka shook his head. "No, he didn't. Didn't even try, really. He seemed too distracted, looking everywhere but at me. Once I was down, he rushed in the opposite direction. Looked like he was on a mission and nothing was going to stop him. I guess that included me."

Akira's forehead furrowed as she mapped out the warehouse in her head. "Where was he going?"

He considered the question for a moment before nodding. "The southern bays. Don't know why. They were damn near destroyed after a roof collapse a few years ago. We didn't even bother trying to go that way."

Akira's gut clenched automatically.  _They_  were supposed to be at one of the southern entrances, but the compromised structure made them move. A ghoul on a mission, a missing investigator. The chances that the two events were related seemed impossible, but Akira remembered again how Nagachika entered their team on murky orders from Marude.

"Can you describe the ghoul again?"

_He didn't kill Tanaka-san. He was distracted and trying to get somewhere else. What ghoul from_ Aogiri Tree _would do that?_  She shuddered as she thought back to the grinning ghoul, toying with them, trying to beat them down one-by-one.

"He was young, probably even younger than you. Which was what made me remember that he had such white hair."

"And? Did he have a mask on?"

"Yeah, he did. I'm trying to think…" He groaned, rubbing at his temples. "Oh, right! It was a nasty one, teeth barred and smiling and—" Tanaka's eyes glazed over as he drifted back to the warehouse. "He seemed so determined… So frightened…"

Akira wasn't sure who Tanaka was referring to anymore, but she decided it was probably time to let him rest. A nurse had slipped into the room a few minutes earlier and was watching her with a solemn silence as she adjusted Tanaka's IV.

She nodded to the nurse before moving towards the door. Tanaka's sleepy, slurry voice caused her to pause.

"Akira… my team. Do you know what happened to them? Nakamura and Inoue?"

She glanced down at her whitened knuckles, clenched around the door handle. She had seen Nakamura's name three times, right below where Nagachika's name would have been when she scanned the fatalities list repeatedly.

"I don't know," she muttered, knowing her father's old friend would already have nightmares without adding on the death of a teammate. Tanaka released a knowing sigh before burrowing deeper into his blankets, finally overcome by the stronger sedatives.

Akira slipped through the door, determined to find her superior.

* * *

She found Amon in the waiting rooms, propped up in a chair with a pair of crutches tucked underneath the seats. When he spotted her coming, he attempted to rise with a grunt, but she waved him down with a firm sweep of the hand.

His gaze dropped to her leg, eyeing the stream of dried blood from the earlier reopened stitches. She had been in too much of a hurry to let the paramedics deal with the cosmetics.

"Are you—"

" _Fine_. What about you?" She glanced down at his ankle, concealed beneath a heavy walking boot.

Amon's lips quirked upwards before flattening out, as if he would have been disappointed with any other response from his subordinate.

"A fractured tibia. They only gave me this," he gestured towards the boot, "since I couldn't promise I'd stay off my feet."

"And Seidou?"

"They're keeping him under observation, but he seemed to be fine." Amon locked gazes with Akira, ready for her next answer. "Nagachika was not brought here."

"No, he wasn't."

Amon nodded; he had expected this. He exhaled his frustration and dismay with a deep sigh. "So, it was real then. Nagachika really did try to lure the ghoul away."

"They couldn't find him." Amon's brow furrowed as he looked back up at his subordinate. "Nagachika is missing. He's injured—the paramedics found his helmet next to a puddle of blood—but he isn't on either of the lists." She paused. "I even checked over the investigators too…damaged to identify and he wasn't there either." That had also been a heart pounding experience, scanning over the mangled corpses for a flash of blond.

"He's missing?" Amon echoed, still struggling through the last remnants of his painkillers to catch up. "Did you file a report?"

"I did, but due to his lack of training and the circumstances around how he disappeared, they believe finding him is a low priority."

"Missing" investigators were not uncommon, especially since their statuses were frequently changed to  _deceased_  once the bodies were found a few hundred meters from the battleground. These were their "low" priority cases.

However, Akira knew that cases involving missing investigation assistants who may have been captured by ghouls were considerably rarer. Amon did too, grunting as he rose to his feet again. If Nagachika was to be treated like a low priority, then it was up to them to find him.

He was part of their team.

* * *

It was a strange feeling, holding Hide. With Hide pressed to his chest, Kaneki could feel everything he had tried to force himself to forget. He could feel Hide's warmth, radiating through the chill of the frigid night. He could feel the soft rise and fall of Hide's shoulders each time he took a shallow breath.

Hide felt so heavy, so alive, but also so fragile, as if he could snap Hide in two with a single misstep.

He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to get Hide away from where Rakko could find him. At least, away from Rakko and the others before Hide woke up. He was still struggling around his explanation, feeling the jumbled words tangle through his mind and heart like writhing snakes. Kaneki shuddered; the sensation was disgustingly familiar.

Hide murmured something softly, shifting in Kaneki's arms. Kaneki froze, starting down at his delicate cargo with widened eyes. His mask was clipped to his belt—what if Hide woke up and saw him like this?

Tossing a look over his shoulder, Kaneki figured they were far enough from Rakko's room to rest. He gingerly laid Hide down, pillowing his discarded Aogiri cloak under his bruised temple. His trembling fingers hovered over Hide's crimson matted hair before he yanked them backwards. Kaneki fumbled with his mask, scrambling to undo the buckles with jerking motions. He had to hurry. It was only a matter of moments bef—

Hide groaned again, reaching up to rub at his squeezed-shut eyes with a wince. He moved to rise up, but Kaneki automatically reached out his hands to keep him in a reclined position. Hide's blurry eyes slowly opened and landed on Kaneki. He flinched, pulling his arms from Hide and burying half of his face in the crook of his elbow.

"Hey Kaneki."

Kaneki trembled at the words. How many times had he dreamed them, only to wake up alone in the dark, strapped to a chair?

"It's been a while, huh?"

_Why isn't he scared? He should be scared of me! Angry!_

He kept his gaze lowered. He couldn't bear to see the fear, the rejection.

"Kaneki… look at me." Kaneki hesitated, clenching his darkened fingernails deeper into his palm. It felt so good to hear his own name again, but that warmth was dangerous. Like a fire.

_"_ Kaneki,  _please._ "

When he peeked back up at his best friend, he saw that Hide was upright and watching him with a sad smile.

"I'd apologize for bleeding all over your cloak, but you can't even see the stain. Pretty smart way to reduce laundry costs, if you ask me."

Kaneki's ragged breaths grew shakier when Hide reached over and planted a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Kaneki, I'm glad I found you."

Kaneki jerked his head back, narrowly missing Hide's chin after he had scooted closer.

"I mean, technically you found me, but that's beside the point. I'm glad we found each other," he amended.

"Found?" Kaneki croaked. His voice was hoarse and thick like Hide's, but more from emotion than injury.

_Hide was looking for me?_

"I was worried about you, man. Ever since you disappeared, I tried everything to find you."

"Did you know? That I was a mo—"

_He knew and he was still looking for me?_

"A ghoul? Sure. First time I saw you after the accident, you had an ear lodged between your front teeth."

Kaneki stiffened with a sharp intake of breath. "Hide, I ne—"

"Kidding! I was  _kidding_ , Kaneki." Hide rolled his eyes with a good-natured smile. "I was trying to tell a joke to lighten the mood. You look you're at a funeral or something."

_Almost was._

He eyed Hide's temple, swollen and purple. His gaze traveled down Hide's battered body, landing on his dripping calf and the small pool of blood underneath it. Kaneki immediately chastised himself for being so concerned about Hide's reaction.

_(Stupid! You didn't even try to stop the bleeding! He could have died before you even had the chance to explain.)_

Hide followed his gaze and mashed his lips. "Right… That'll make getting out of here a little bit more difficult."

"Does it hurt?" Kaneki moved tentatively towards the injury. His stomach growled instinctively, but Hide made an ostentatious show of masking it with a loud yawn instead.

"Oh, it's absolutely excruciating. Worse than the time you made me read that one book by Takatsuki Sen. What was it—something about a gruff goat?"

Kaneki shook his head and laughed, a hesitant sound that crescendoed. "You got two of the stories crossed." Although his expression faded back to a more comfortable one, the smile remained on his face. He ripped off a shred of his cloak and fastened around the puncture wound on Hide's calf. Hide winced at the contact, but kept chattering to keep Kaneki's mind (and stomach) off the cloying scent.

"I still don't know how I made it. I was trying to lead this ghoul away from my team—right, I'll have to explain that later too—and he speared me through the leg with his kagune. I thought I was dead mea—err, I wasn't sure what happened next, but then I woke up here. With you."

"The ghoul that hurt you, what was he like?"

Hide shuddered, rubbing the back of his neck. "A bit creepy. He was really relishing it all. That's why it was so surprising that I survived."

_Rakko. He'll pay for hurting Hide._  Kaneki's grip around Hide's leg tightened reflexively, but he loosened it immediate when Hide started to fidget.

"That must have been Rakko."

"Rakko? Like, the  _sea otter_?"

Kaneki blinked. He had never stopped to consider the translation of Rakko's name before. He could only imagine how frustrated Rakko would be if he knew that a human was laughing at his name.

"Wow, that's a bit embarrassing. Being killed by a ghoul named after a fluffy water cat."

Kaneki opened his mouth to warn Hide about mocking such an unhinged ghoul when his communicator went off. Flicking a careful glance towards Hide, Kaneki flipped it open.

"One-Eye," he muttered in a deeper, coarser voice. Hide's eyebrow darted upwards in mock amusement.

" _Hello,_ One-Eye. I went back to fetch you, but you weren't there." Hide's expression dropped at the familiar voice. Despite all of his smiles and confident bravado, apparently his brush with death had still shaken him.

"I moved. The location was compromised by Doves."

"Speaking of Doves, I hope you still have your little birdie. Ayato is interested in meeting this dangerous ghoul-killer. You have fifteen minutes to report back to the conference room." The line went dead, leaving Kaneki to stare blankly at the device.

"Ghoul-killer…?"

Kaneki sighed. He had been hoping to avoid this particular topic. "I heard your voice on one of the CCG radios. I told the other ghouls to find you and bring you to me. Unharmed." Kaneki swallowed thickly. "Rakko disobeyed and…. I'm sorry, Hide."

Hide tittered nervously, though Kaneki could sense that he still seemed rattled by the call. "So, it wasn't my dashing wit and luck that kept me from being killed?" He tried to sigh dramatically, but it came out in two shaky, fragmented exhales.

"It's my fault that he knows about you."

Hide shrugged. "We would have run into each other eventually. My team encountered him in one of the warehouse bays. You ordering him not to kill me probably saved my life."

_His team? He keeps talking about them. Is he really part of the CCG?_

"You keep mentioning your team," Kaneki muttered softly, unsure of whether this was a safe thread to pull.

He nodded his head eagerly. "I told you I tried everything to find you. The CCG seemed to have…the best information, so I tried to get some of that by part-timing as an investigation assistant. It worked, didn't it?"

Kaneki didn't like the fact that Hide had entered such a dangerous business, especially after he went through so much trouble trying to distance himself from his best friend in the first place. However, his heart had settled into a peaceful rhythm sometime during their conversation and Kaneki couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so frequently. It was selfish of him to be happy while Hide was still at risk, but he decided he deserved to enjoy the sensation at least once more.

"I have to get you out of here before Rakko and the others come looking for us."

Hide frowned. "Won't you get in trouble if they find out you helped a CCG agent?"

Kaneki shook his head with a firm jerk of the chin. "I'm  _not_  going to let them take you away again." Hide tilted his head at the strange wording, but he said nothing.

"Can you walk on your own? I can try to distract the others while you run towards an entrance."

Hide pressed his lips together, shoulders slumping. "I don't think so. I… I think the bone might be damaged." Kaneki glanced back at Hide's leg. He hadn't noticed while binding the more distracting injury, but his foot  _had_  seemed at an odd angle. It had been unresponsive while Kaneki bandaged and put pressure on Hide's calf.

"I might be able to crawl though?" Hide offered unhelpfully.

"I'll have to carry you out then. I can still fi—"

Hide puckered his lips, thinking. "Well, are these ghouls particularly smart?"

"Huh?"

He pulled Kaneki's cloak closer to himself. "I could pretend to be some ghoul that died in the raid. No one would know if I lie really still and you cover me in this!"

Kaneki didn't like the sound of that either. The thought of carrying a motionless Hide under a shroud—even if he were still alive—was genuinely unnerving to Kaneki, almost like a distant nightmare.

However, if it was the only way to save him—

"Knock, knock."

Both pairs of eyes darted towards the door. Rakko burst in, teeth gleaming as he noticed Hide was awake. Rakko's gaze drifted towards the bandaging on Hide's leg.

_Interesting. What would the point of that be, if One-Eye was just going to kill him anyway?_

" _Rakko_." Kaneki's voice was a hiss so venomous that even Hide could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise. "What do you want?"

"I decided to escort you to Ayato myself. I'd feel  _so_ terrible if my supervisor was killed by some dangerous ghoul-killer that I delivered to him." He reached towards Hide's collar, but Kaneki smacked his hand away.

"I'll carry him."

Rakko bowed his head, no longer attempting to conceal his smile.

"After you."

* * *

Once Seidou had regained consciousness, Akira recounted what had happened for the third time that day, feeling no better then than she had the first time. She made sure to include every detail, even ones as confusing as the two pools of blood and Nagachika's discarded helmet.

Amon, who had already heard it once, watched Akira impassively. Seidou, however, was significantly more emotional.

"What? What do you  _mean_  he's missing?! Ghouls don't kidnap CCG agents! That's not what happens!"

Amon flicked his gaze towards the door. The doctors had warned them about upsetting Seidou.

"I mean what I said!" Akira snapped, feeling just as helpless as the others were. They had all coped with loss and were aware that any mission could be their last. But Nagachika was different—he was too young, too close to being like the civilians they strove to save. He was part of  _their_  team and he risked his life for theirs.

Seidou settled back down in the bed, momentarily stunned into silence.

Amon crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall to take pressure off of his injured leg. He knew he should be seated, but he was tired of resting.

"Is there anything else?"

Akira hesitated before pursing her lips. Her behavior only made Amon more curious. He knew his subordinate hated feeling foolish, so she only spoke up whenever there was an indisputable reason to do so.

_She must have a theory, but she isn't sure about it._

"Tell us."

Akira sighed before relenting. "It's what Tanaka-san said about the ghoul that attacked him." Amon hoisted a brow upwards. Akira had briefly mentioned visiting Tanaka, but she didn't say what they had discussed.

"Tanaka-san said the ghoul that attacked him didn't try to kill him. That he incapacitated him then rushed towards the south entrance. Tanaka seemed to think that the ghoul was on some sort of mission."

" _We_  were supposed to be at the south entrance," Seidou muttered, tentatively poking himself back into the conversation.

Akira nodded with a frown. "That's what I thought too, but it doesn't mean anything. Tanaka-san was severely injured and who knows what that ghoul was doing."

"He said the ghoul was distressed for some reason? Did he say anymore?"

"He said the ghoul was young with white hair." Amon's expression remained unchanged.  _White hair? I don't remember seeing a ghoul like that._ "And his mask was some sort of creepy grimace."

Amon jerked his arms out of their crossed position, sending his nearby crutches clattering to the floor. Seidou jumped at the sound, nearly toppling out of his hospital bed.

_"What?"_

Akira glanced from the crutches back to Amon's pale face. "He said the mask was an exposed smile or something. Do you know who it is?"

Amon nodded tersely, his head bobbing once. "We've met before when—" He broke off, glancing in Akira's direction before altering the conversation. "When he still had dark hair. He goes by One-Eye, but others used to call him Eyepatch. He always had strange ideas about ghouls and humans coexisting."

"Do you think he has anything to do with this? With Nagachika going missing?"

"I'm not sure, but there's no harm in looking into it."

* * *

Kaneki tried to keep his heartbeats even as he trailed after Rakko, but each time Hide shifted or bounced in his arms, his heart rate rocketed.

_I have to kill him. That's the only way to save Hide._

"Oh, Ooooone-Eye," Rakko drawled, glancing over his shoulder with a wicked smile. "Aren't you going to tell me why your little birdie is still alive? I thought you said you were going to be the one to take care of him."

_I can't lose Hide again. Not again. Never again._

"If I'd had known you'd be this gentle, I would have killed him myself." Kaneki's grip tightened around Hide, who was being remarkably still and silent. His earlier suggestion to play dead seemed like an increasingly better alternative with each step they took towards Ayato.

"You'll do no such thing. You already disobeyed orders by harming him."

"Aww, but he was a wriggly one. It was the only way to catch him." Rakko offered another wink in Hide's direction. "Maybe you were right about him being more than a simple human."

Kaneki gritted his teeth. He ached to say more or do more, but Rakko's kagune was out, twitching and tickling the air near Hide's cheek. Rakko claimed the tendrils were there for Kaneki's protection, but they were to keep Kaneki subdued. A single flick of any one of his rinkaku tendrils could decapitate Hide.

They walked in silence for a few more moments. Kaneki and Hide exchanged wide-eyed glances each time Rakko turned back around. Hide kept an eye roaming around the darkened corridor, trying to get a better feel for his location. If a miracle happened and he had the chance to escape, he'd rather not crawl right back into the lion's den.

The tiny group stopped at a heavy door. Rakko knocked once before pushing through. He recalled his kagune, but not before offering a Kaneki a frosty smile that seemed to say "I wouldn't."

Kaneki and Hide followed reluctantly behind. Kaneki glanced around at the other occupants of the room and felt his stomach twist. Although Ayato was the most concerning obstacle, there were several more bodies that would make escape difficult. In the corner slouched Naki and his bodyguards while several other ghouls glanced up with mild interest at the new visitors.

"Good evening, Ayato-san. As you requested, I have retrieved One-Eye."

Ayato flicked his unimpressed gaze from Rakko to Kaneki. "According to this one, I heard that you were pretty damn useless during this raid. For your sake, I hope he's wrong."

Ayato slipped out of his chair and stalked towards the three. Kaneki tried to pull Hide closer to himself, but Hide wriggled out of his grasp with a loosely aimed kick. He tumbled to the ground, wincing in pain, but struggled into a more dignified position, glaring defiantly at the ghouls around him.

_What are you doing, Hide? This isn't the time for bluffing!_

"What do you want with me? Who are you?"

Ayato blinked at Hide, as if seeing the human for the first time. "And what's with this talking piece of shit?"

Rakko moved towards Ayato's side, whispering in his ear while keeping his gaze locked with Kaneki. Ayato scoffed after his briefing, looking even less impressed with Hide.

"Ghoul-killer? Are you serious? This looks like a waste of my time." Ayato's growl suggested that he did not like to waste time.

"That's what I thought too, but One-Eye has been very… _concerned_  about this human. If a ghoul as  _capable_  of One-Eye is worried about this Dove, then I thought it would be wise to inform you."

Ayato narrowed his eyes at Kaneki. "You should explain yourself before I take this to Tatara."

Kaneki took a deep breath and opened his mouth, though he was at a loss for what to say next. He glanced to the side at the other Aogiri Tree members. They were watching, but still at an uninterested distance. Ayato and Rakko were the only ones close enough to hurt Hide, but if Kaneki acted fast eno—

"Hey! What do you want from me?"

_Hide… Stop before you get yourself killed!_

Rakko quirked an eyebrow at Hide's audacity. "The bird's bold, I'll give it that."

Ayato crossed his arms, still unimpressed. "Or maybe just an idiot."

Hide cast a quick glance at Kaneki's intense expression, urging him to stay silent, before taking a shallow breath through his nose.

_I'm going to regret this._

"You do look familiar though. The way you called me idiot just now, could have sworn I've heard it before…"

_Huh? Does he know about Touka?_ Kaneki thought back to their earlier conversation; he wouldn't doubt it, but mentioning her in front of Ayato  _had_  to be stupid luck.

Ayato pivoted sharply, taking a threatening step towards Hide. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't happen to have a sister, do you? Worked at a coffee shop? She was really cute too, but I haven't seen her since the Doves came. Such a shame, though I guess I know why."

_Hide—no no no no no..._

Rakko didn't understand the reference, but the sudden fury that surged through Ayato's trembling form caused even him to take a hasty step backwards. He watched Ayato cautiously as he recalled his ukaku kagune. A twinge of uncertainty flickered across Rakko's features for the first time that evening.

_"Shut the fuck up!"_  Ayato seethed, lashing out at Hide with a hard kick. Hide caught the boot in his stomach and cried out in pain, curling in on himself. Kaneki stiffened immediately, suppressing the urge to destroy everything in the room. Ayato reared back as if strike again, but caught himself with a hiccupy pant.

Instead, he swung his fiery glare in Kaneki's direction. "Get rid of him.  _Now._ I don't care what you do— _just get him out!"_

Kaneki nodded weakly, pulling a gasping Hide back into his arms. He backed towards the exit when Rakko regained his composure.

"Ayato-san, perhaps we should first hear about this bird's other crimes before having One-Eye…dispose of him."

"It doesn't matter what he's done," Ayato shot a glare in Rakko's direction and the latter lowered his gaze. "He's not going to be alive much longer anyway."

"If I may though—"

Kaneki clutched Hide tighter, desperately striving to keep his steps even as he neared the door. Could this be it? Was it that easy to escape? He just had to get out before Rakko made things worse.

"Don't  _test_  me." Still, Rakko's whispering refused to leave Ayato's mind. He shifted his attention back towards Kaneki and Hide, lips pursed in curiosity.

"Wait, Kaneki!" Kaneki closed and slowly opened his eyes before turning back towards Ayato. Ayato stepped towards them, grabbing a fistful of blond hair and yanking back to better see Hide's bruised face. Kaneki's fingers pressed harder into Hide's uniform.

"What ghoul did you kill?"

"He killed an o—"

"I want to hear it from him. To see if he even knows what he did."

_Make up a name. Say something._ Don't _say Touka._

Rakko grinned, crossing his arms as he locked gazes with Hide. "It better be someone important after all this. If not,  _I_ want to kill the bird myself."

Hide swallowed thickly before steeling his expression. "Jason."

_What…?_

Ayato parted his lips, confused by the unexpected answer. Rakko seemed similarly confused—after all, they all had heard the ghost stories about the psychotic Dove that drove a motorcycle through a fourth-floor window.

"What?"

Avoiding Kaneki's pleading stare for him to  _shut up_ , Hide continued. "I tailed Jason and put a tracker on the bottom of his shoe. He didn't know I was a human, since I disguised myself as a ghoul," he explained in a rush of words. "I reported his location to the CCG. That's how they knew about the Aogiri base in the 11th Ward. Otherwise our attack would have been weeks later."

The room fell silent before a shriek from Naki shattered the stunned calm. His kakugan blazed red as his kagune exploded from his back and wrapped around his right arm.

_"What did you say about Big Bro?!"_

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading (if any of you are still out there)! I'll try to finish this up by the end of the year, but we'll see.
> 
> Here, have an exit poll: Why am I a horrible person? 1. That tasteless Root A reference; 2. That awful cliffhanger; 3. The fact that I haven't updated in two years.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I didn't finish this fic by the end of 2017 (you really should stop believing me when I say these things), but since my latest update time was less than two years, that's something. Thanks for all of the lovely reviews! Your anguished responses certainly made my day :')

 

* * *

_"What did you say about Big Bro?!"_

For a moment, Naki's violent response was met with a stunned silence. He even seemed shocked by his own outburst, swinging his head back and forth to find the cause of his anguish. Kaneki took a reflexive half-step back and then instantly regretted drawing any attention to himself or Hide.

_Maybe he didn't realize it was Hide who said it. Maybe he thought it was someone else._

Naki had been fooled by less, after all.

Kaneki's fingers tightened their grip around Hide, his dark nails scraping against the velcro padding on his CCG uniform. The  _only_ CCG-related thing in the room. Naki snarled and lurched forward, drawing his right arm and kagune back.

"Were you the one who said it? Huh, dove-dove?"

_No such luck._

He could feel Hide tense and Kaneki realized he felt just as anxious.  _What were you thinking, Hide?_ The words didn't carry the same exasperated fondness as they used to when Hide would concoct ridiculous schemes as a child.

Before Hide or Kaneki could respond, Naki screeched and dove forward.

Whether he was acting on instinct or delaying Hide's death for his own dark purposes, Rakko moved to intercept Naki's attack, wrapping his own kagune around Naki's koukaku protrusion and yanking backwards. The latter instantly recoiled at the personal affront, turning his anger to Rakko.

"Huh? Did  _you_  kill Big Bro?" Naki's eyes widened as he lunged towards Rakko, teeth flashing and chomping the air in an attempt to bite himself free. Upon seeing their boss change targets—indeed, a more formidable one at that—Naki's twin bodyguards leaped to his aid, their own kagune drawn.

As this had happened in a few seconds, the rest of the ghouls gawked at the exchange, too stunned to comprehend the sharp turn of events, much less intervene. Ayato reacted first, simultaneously growling under his breath while shouting for Naki to stop. He jerked his head back and forth, from Rakko to the bodyguards and back to Naki, and settled for an even louder bellowing.

Kaneki was temporarily transfixed by the chaos. Naki had landed a particularly deep bite on Rakko's shoulder, ripping his head back and spraying the room with dark ghoul blood. Kaneki's nose twitched instinctually, his spine prickling in uncertainty. Should he activate his kagune? Should he join the fight too?

_"Go!"_

Hide's hoarse whisper jarred Kaneki out of his stupor. He glanced down to meet Hide's eyes, so wide that his chestnut irises seemed stranded in seas of white.

"Kaneki,  _run!"_

Kaneki nodded numbly before backpedaling, keeping his wary gaze fixed on Rakko. Rakko, who was attempting to extract his leg from the salivating jaw of one of Naki's bodyguards, caught sight of their hasty retreat. He growled something, lost under Naki's shrieks of  _"Boss! Boss!"_ , but Kaneki could feel the murderous intent. He struggled harder to escape, to catch them and rip them both apart, but another ghoul entered the fray and tangled herself in Rakko's kagune.

The moment Kaneki moved out of sight of the conference room door, he turned and ran, keeping Hide firmly grasped in his iron clutches. If he dropped Hide or if they fell due to his recklessness, then all of that terror and carnage would have been for nothing.

After several minutes of sustained running, Kaneki slowed, fearing his heart would burst if he kept moving. He was stronger than he had ever been, certainly, but he had been carrying Hide for what seemed like hours. Kaneki could feel Hide trembling sharply, though he couldn't blame him. Kaneki always felt at unease when interacting with the Aogiri executive team—and he was part of them.

"Hide—" It still felt so wonderfully strange to say his best friend's name "Hide, are you okay?"

Hide pulled his face away from Kaneki's chest, but Kaneki was surprised to see a crinkled-eyed grin instead of tears.

"Hide—you're laughing…?"

He knew some people reacted to intense situations in different ways. Touka and Nishiki always resorted to some sort of cathartic violence, but Hide's frame-shaking laughter stunned him.

"I'm—I really shouldn't be laughing—aha, and maybe I'm just so—so, ha,  _nervous_. But that worked so much better than I thought it would!"

Kaneki stared blankly at his friend.  _So Hide_ did _have a plan._ He almost regretted asking, but he figured it would be a better conversation topic than some of the other things they were past due to talk about.

"What plan?"

They were far outside of the main compound now. Kaneki knew from past experiences that no one would be patrolling this far outside of range. He gently set Hide down against a fallen tree, watching as his best friend scooted and wriggled with discontent sighs until he was acceptably comfortable.

_Typical. He's fine being carried through a high-ranking ghoul conference, but leaning against a tree draws the line._ Kaneki hid a rueful smile. He knew they weren't safe—judging by the malice in Rakko's glare, Hide would  _never_  be safe—but he felt secure enough to enjoy the small pleasures again.

"What plan?" Kaneki repeated. He reviewed the chaotic events that led up to their escape: Ayato's anger, Naki's loss of control, Rakko's unsettling act. As far as Kaneki could see, it all felt circumstantial and very  _lucky_  to him.

Hide prodded at his leg injury while he spoke, investigating the fresh beads of blood that dribbled from the stained cloak binding. Kaneki's stomach twisted; apparently, he hadn't been as gentle as he had thought during their panicked flight. He was, however, relieved to note that at least the smell no longer registered in his normally rolling and rumbling stomach.

"I was hoping that if the leader guy got angry or distracted, then we would have a chance to slip away." Hide winced, patting his stomach gingerly from where Ayato had kicked him. "I didn't think he'd be  _that_  angry though. And I  _definitely_  didn't expect that other guy to freak out."

Hide paused, a shit-eating grin appearing on his bruised and mottled face. Kaneki eyed the expression warily, knowing it had to be tender.

"He was Touka-chan's brother, right? The resemblance was uncanny."

"Yes." Kaneki mashed his lips together. "That was a very stupid thing to do, Hide."

Hide laughed again and shook his head. "I can't believe I missed hearing you call me an idiot."

Kaneki's stern expression faded as he mirrored Hide's smile. "I mean it," he insisted. "Especially telling them about…Jason." Kaneki swallowed thickly, though he knew there was nothing in his throat other than the soured aftertaste of nightmares. Truthfully, he felt a bit sick that Hide even  _knew_  who Jason was. "If Ayato remembers what you looked like, he'll try to bring you to the rest of Aogiri Tree. Couldn't you have come up with a less dangerous story…?" Kaneki trailed off at Hide's suddenly serious expression.

"Kaneki," Hide began gently, almost uncertainly as if he were testing the water. "It wasn't something I made up. I actually did that stuff."

Kaneki blinked, uncomprehending. "What?"

Hide resumed his picking at the Aogiri cloth bound around his calf, yanking on one of the crusty, crimson threads. He jerked his gaze back up, meeting Kaneki's blank expression with a solemn frown.

"I stopped by Anteiku the night you were taken. It was…everything was broken and they were so upset. The door was open—completely off its hinge actually—and the windows and mugs were shattered. I was just  _standing_  there, trying to figure out what to do."

"I asked the little girl while she was sweeping up glass. Hinami. I think that's what her name was. She was so distracted that she didn't even realize who I was, that I was a human. She said that Yamori had taken away her big brother."

Hide paused for a moment to order his thoughts. Kaneki listened intently. He had been unconscious at this point, already trapped in Yamori's nightmare. No one had informed him of the aftermath. He hadn't thought to ask.

"I didn't know what else to do, so I decided to follow him and hope that I could figure out a way to find you. There wasn't much else I could do." Hide's voice grew quieter, perhaps a bit meeker. "I wore an old coat from a ghoul and pretended to drop some coins by his feet. I slipped a tracker on him and reported his location to the CCG." Hide's gaze jumped to Kaneki's white hair.

"I guess I was too late to stop everything."

He had read the reports from the other investigators regarding the various torture rooms. The shriveled appendages, the discarded wire-cutters.

Throughout Hide's confession, Kaneki's expression had slowly morphed from confusion to muted horror. He reluctantly recalled the graphic scenes he endured during Jason's torture. He had fought so hard to keep his untainted memories of Hide from the monster's eager, greedy grasp, but Hide—the  _real_  Hide—had been in danger the whole time. He had risked his life, waging a battle of skills against a deadly ghoul. All to try to save Kaneki.

Kaneki still wasn't sure how to react, lips faintly parted as his eyes darted around, searching for the right response as if it were scrawled on the nearby tree trunks.

Hide sensed Kaneki's uncertainty and forced an unconvincing chuckle. "But enough about that. It wasn't even that dangerous." Hide tried to downplay it all. "He must have had a head cold or something—which, can ghouls even get sick?—because he didn't even look twice at me."

Hide smiled brightly, but his stomach clenched at the memory. No, it hadn't been as risk-free as he made it all seem, but he didn't want to give Kaneki any more white hairs.

(Hide groaned internally.  _That_  was bad.)

* * *

He leaned across his desk, propping his chin on his interlaced fingers.

"Shouldn't you be on bed rest or something?"

Amon shifted the weight to his good leg, causing his crutches to creak with the motion.

"I was cleared for noncombative duty."

Marude hoisted an eyebrow upwards. "If so, then what are you doing in my office with a case file? Aren't there waste bins closer to your desk?"

He cleared his throat before hobbling closer to his supervisor's desk. "Our mission from yesterday—the raid on the warehouse."

"Yes, I heard. We took some casualties, didn't we?" Marude's puckered frown tightened. "According to the reports, there was some confusion on entrances."

Amon nodded. He almost began to explain how their assigned entrance had been destroyed, but he decided to skip the nonessential conversations and cut straight to why he had come. After all, Nagachika's life was at stake. Already a day had passed since they had seen him last.

He dropped the file on Marude's desk, causing the older man to lean back in surprise at the papery  _smack_. "Our investigation assistant—Hideyoshi Nagachika—was assigned to be on that mission."

"Nagachika…?" Marude narrowed his eyes, considering the name before snapping his fingers. "Nagachika… Oh, right! That excitable part-timer." He flipped through the file, humming at each familiar name. "That's not possible. Investigation assistants aren't deployed for—" He broke off, frowning when he came to Amon's squad on the assignment list.

_Leader: Koutarou Amon._

_Squad Members: Akira Mado, Seidou Takizawa, Hideyoshi Nagachika._

Marude's eyebrows knotted together, wriggling on his forehead like frustrated caterpillars.

"There must have been some mistake then."

"Do you know how he got on this list?"

Marude shook his head. "Someone should have caught it. I'll put a strict word in to the Assignments Department."

Amon felt his shoulders slacken. A strict word wouldn't be much help in finding Nagachika, but he doubted his superior could offer any more help on the matter. After all, it would be irresponsible to ask for more resources or agents in tracking down a missing investigation assistant. Especially one who shouldn't have been on the mission in the first place.

"Please let me know if you find out why he was on the list." It was the best that Amon could hope for, since this lead felt like it was growing dry.

"Sure, sure," Marude flipped his wrist dismissively, already distracted by a new thought. The phone on his desk buzzed and he sighed, reaching for the handset.

Amon dipped his head respectfully and turned to leave.

"Oi! That Nagachika—"

He turned expectantly. Marude covered the mouthpiece with a palm.

"I still don't know what brought him to the CCG in the first place, running around with tips on ghoul syndicates. Make sure to keep an eye on the kid." He waggled the phone in Amon's direction for extra emphasis.

He smiled weakly at Marude. "We'll try," he murmured, but his superior had already turned back to grunting in the telephone. Amon moved gingerly to the door and froze when his knuckles brushed against the brass handle.

_Tips on ghoul syndicates._

Perhaps they had another lead.

* * *

When Amon pushed through the door to their tiny workspace, Seidou was the first to react, rising quickly from his chair. He had been discharged from the hospital earlier that morning, following the completion of a mandated 12-hour observation period.

(Amon had ordered him half-heartedly to take the day off, but after Seidou gave his crutches a pointed look, Amon decided to drop the issue.)

"Did Marude-san say anything?"

"Anything  _important_?" Akira added, her clarification earning an extra roll of the eye from Seidou.

Amon shook his head, settling down in the chair that Seidou had vacated with a relieved grunt. "Not particularly. He didn't know why Nagachika was assigned to be on that mission. Said it must have been some mistake."

Akira's nose wrinkled in disgust. If Nagachika's death had been because of some mistake made by one of their superiors… She sighed.  _No, it wouldn't be the first time._

"But did he say anything else? Anything that could help?" Seidou pushed harder. To him, this was their best lead.

"Not about why Nagachika might have been on the list. But he did remind me of something—the reason Nagachika was assigned to our team in the first place."

Akira nodded knowingly. It was now Seidou's turn to be confused. He had been the last to officially join the "team" as Nagachika affectionately dubbed it, despite collaborating with Amon and Akira repeatedly in the past. By the time he started working full time with them, Nagachika had already been absorbed into Akira's and Amon's confidence. He assumed that Nagachika's promotion had something to do with his eager, bright personality.

"Huh? Wasn't it just because he was a hard worker? That's what he told me."

Amon shook his head again. Neither Marude or Nagachika had offered an explanation for the full circumstances. Katsuya, who had been beside Marude during Nagachika's impromptu "promotional" hearing, was the one who told him afterwards.

He briefly summarized the story. Seidou absorbed it with an awed blink.

"Honestly didn't think Nagachika had it in him," he murmured, impressed. "But…" Seidou's brow furrowed as he considered his coworker's secret stealth skills. "The raid on the 11th Ward base was how we got most of our intelligence for later assaults against Aogiri. If we didn't have that, we would have been months behind. Do you think the ghouls found out about Nagachika being a spy?"

Amon frowned. He wasn't sure either. If Nagachika didn't even tell his partners about his tip to the CCG, then he doubted that anyone else would have found out. Other than himself, Akira, and now Seidou, the only other people who knew would have been Marude and Katsuya.

"I don't know how they would have. Even if there was a mole in the Bureau, any personal information about informants is confidential." Akira countered, crossing her arms. "None of this is helpful information. We should see if any of the other investigators know anything else." From her perspective, the tip from her father's old partner was their best lead to follow. The warehouse had been dark, but who knows what else someone might have seen?

"I still think it has to mean something," Seidou insisted, leaning forward. "Ghouls don't kidnap random CCG agents for science experiments, so there has to be  _something_ that made Nagachika a target."

"How would they have even known he would be there?"

"I don't know!"

Amon remained silent, trying to drown out his subordinates' squabbling. They only resorted to bickering when stressed, but he didn't have the energy to add more volume to the fray. Seidou clearly thought that they should be pursuing Nagachika's past as an amateur ghoul tracker, whereas Akira was eager to interview other survivors of the raid. He wasn't sure which path was the right one, if either of them were.

_What did Tanaka-san say again? That the ghoul he thought he was fighting was Eyepatch?_

Amon hadn't read any recent reports of Eyepatch since their last encounter, but it was entirely possible that he was going by a new name. He shuddered, remembering how desperate Eyepatch had been, begging Amon to listen to him about ghouls and humans coexisting. According to Tanaka-san's account of the attack, his opponent had been just as anxious to complete some task.

Even though Akira had dismissed the connection between Eyepatch and Nagachika as coincidence, Amon couldn't subdue the twisting in his gut. He could  _feel_  that there was something to that theory, but he wasn't sure what.

Amon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. It seemed like they would be splitting up, each chasing after separate leads. He could only hope that they would converge with Nagachika at the end.

* * *

Hide yawned, overall content with his position, despite the dull throb in his leg and chest. They had remained by the small forest clearing for several hours, talking and giggling and making the most of their unexpected reunion. Hide could tell by the periodical stiffening of Kaneki's shoulders each time an overzealous squirrel snapped a branch that his friend was far from relaxed, but it felt so  _good_  to chatter and chuckle like the old days.

He knew he should have said something, made some sort of remark about getting further away from the Aogiri base, but he didn't want to spoil the moment. Besides, Kaneki still looked exhausted and Hide wasn't ready to be a hefty sack of deadweight again.

However, their conversation trickled down to silence after Hide's enthusiastic retelling of an incident from their childhood, punctuated with a few winces and gasps of pain. Kaneki still couldn't believe that this moment was actually real, that his best friend was  _alive_  and not afraid of him.

It unnerved him slightly that Hide had seen through his attempts to hide the truth. He wondered what other conclusions Hide had made; he already knew that Touka was a ghoul and that Aogiri Tree was an organization  _not_  to be messed with.

It unnerved him even more that Hide's characteristically- _Hide_  response to Kaneki's self-imposed reclusion had been to risk his life repeatedly until he found him, though Kaneki supposed he shouldn't be surprised.

Hide prodded the next conversation topic gently.

"What's going to happen next?"

Kaneki frowned. The different scenarios had played in the back of his mind during their welcomed respite. Should he run away with Hide? Should he leave Hide at the hospital and return to Aogiri Tree? What would they do without evidence of Hide's death? Kill Kaneki? Hunt down Hide?

"I'm not sure." He didn't want to risk losing Hide again, but he couldn't come up with a situation where everything turned out fine in the end. If he abandoned Aogiri Tree to protect Hide, he knew they would retaliate against his family at Anteiku. If he returned without Hide, he could be punished.

Was he strong enough to protect everyone this time?

Hide sighed loudly, leaning against the fallen tree trunk with a contemplative grunt. "It seems like I've gotten you into trouble, Kaneki."

"Nothing I'm not used to," Kaneki remarked dryly, though there was a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Hide playfully shoved his uninjured foot into Kaneki's stomach, meeting resistance against Kaneki's defined abdomen. "This wouldn't have happened if you answered your phone for once, you idiot."

Kaneki glanced away, reminded again of his lonely days away from his best friend. Back when he thought that Hide  _finding out_  about him was the worst thing that could happen.

Hide swallowed before scooching closer. He had been gently trying to reintroduce his touch to Kaneki, laying a hand on Kaneki's shoulder or tapping him with a foot whenever he seemed too tense. At first, the intrusions to his personal space had made Kaneki jump, but after a few more careful adjustments, he quickly acclimated to the tentative touches, even relaxing at the contact.

Hide reached forward for his most ambitious move yet, tucking two fingers under Kaneki's pointed chin and tilting it upwards. Kaneki met his eyes, looking less like a dangerous ghoul and more like a bashful child.

"Hey, chin up, man. We'll get through this somehow." He pulled away, but Kaneki kept his gaze locked with Hide's. "Let's look at it like one of those mystery novels that you're always reading. How do those end?"

"Everyone dies," Kaneki replied flatly.

Hide made a face, remembering the reason he never got into those books. Too depressing.

"Okay, well, no one likes a copycat. We'll think of something else." Hide tapped his chin. "What if we make it look like I died? Then you can go back and pretend that you ate me or something so they won't be as suspicious. You can even take my uniform and shred it up some."

Kaneki's stomach flipped at the thought, but it would probably be their best option. He didn't relish the thought of returning, knowing that there was a chance he might see Hide again on the battle lines again.

Hide seemed to misinterpret his expression. "Hmm, right. They might punish you for what happened back there."

Kaneki shook his head. He doubted they would. Rakko seemed to be the only one who suspected Kaneki's tie to Hide and Ayato trusted him more. If he denied any emotional bond and brought back Hide's blood-stained uniform, there was little Rakko could do to twist the situation to his favor.

"It's not that. I don't want to have to see you again…in that." He eyed Hide's uniform pointedly. He doubted the other ghouls would remember Hide, but he wasn't sure if he could defy orders again to save him. He remembered the white-hot fear of betrayal, wondering if Hide had turned on him after hearing his voice over the CCG radios. His panicked dash towards Hide's scream, not knowing if he would ever get the chance to apologize or explain.

Hide nodded once. "Oh… Yeah…." He scratched the edge of his cheek, glancing to the side with a sheepish smile. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. Being assigned to this mission was, uh, a mistake. I'm just an investigation assistant—it won't happen again, believe me."

He rolled his eyes upwards, picturing Akira's furious (yet relieved) glare when she would inevitably berate him for his suicidal idiocy. He had a feeling he would be on desk duty for the rest of his life.  _Not that I mind._ He winced as he repositioned himself, sliding his injured leg closer to himself.

Kaneki nodded, eyes narrowed suspiciously. Either he didn't understand the technical terminology or he didn't fully believe Hide. Regardless, it seemed like some time would pass before they would risk encountering each other again. He hoped that time would be long enough for Kaneki to destroy Aogiri himself.

He now had a new deadline to motivate him.

* * *

With some of the solemn matters taken care of, Kaneki and Hide resorted back to cheerier conversations. However, after the third yawn in a single sentence, Hide belatedly realized he had been up for nearly a day and a half. Although part of that time had been spent unconscious, he didn't feel refreshed.

Also, his stomach was growling horrendously. He wasn't sure if Kaneki missed the sounds or ignored them out of politeness, since there wasn't much he could do to remedy the problem while on the outskirts of the base of a ghoul crime syndicate.

Kaneki took Hide's yawns as a cue. He too was exhausted, but more so from the sharp peak of stress than anything else. He glanced down at the bandage wrapped around Hide's calf and the unnatural way in which Hide held himself up, as if he didn't want to press too much weight against where Ayato had kicked him.

He could feel his own paltry injuries healing, stitching back together under the watchful care of his RC cells, but Hide needed a hospital. He climbed to his feet and Hide responded reflexively, bracing the undersides of his palms against the ground, as if he were about to push himself up as well.

Kaneki waved him down with a shake of the head. "Don't get up yet. I'm going to make sure that no one's nearby to see us leave."

Hide nodded and settled back down into a more comfortable position. Kaneki unhooked his tattered cloak and draped it over Hide. He nestled in it deeper, relishing the residual warmth from Kaneki's body.

"Rest for a moment," Kaneki added, much softer. "I'll be back soon." He hesitated before turning away. "If anything happens, call for me."

Hide mumbled his understanding, heavy eyes drifting shut under the warmth. Kaneki watched him for a moment, enjoying the sight of Hide's chest rising and falling steadily. He cemented the picture in his mind before disappearing back into the thickest section of the forest.

* * *

Despite the first swell of exhaustion that broke over him, Hide was unable to slip away to a dreamless sleep. He wriggled against the hard bark of the fallen tree truck, causing a sharp jolt of pain to radiate from his ribs. He immediately fell still, eyes still closed but breathing shallowly through his teeth.

Perhaps angering Touka-chan's brother had been the wrong decision. He had tried to pass off his bluffing as a calculated plan, but quite frankly he had been acting on instinct, trying to rile up the ghouls as much as he could.

_Real smart, Nagachika._

This entire plan had been a gamble, but the chance to see Kaneki had been too much to pass up. He shook his head with a fond smile. It had all been worth it, hadn't it?

He shifted again, this time more gently, and tried to fall asleep again. A stillness in the forest caused the hairs on the back of his neck to prickle and he could no longer get comfortable.

He wasn't sure how long Kaneki had been gone, but the birds had resumed their chatter once he had left. He had registered their soft, twinkling tweets in his subconscious as he tried to sleep. Now they were oddly silent again.

His eyelids fluttered and he smiled. It would be just like Kaneki to stay silent to let him rest longer, despite the risk to the both of them. He pictured Kaneki hovering nearby, nervously wringing his hands as he debated between waking Hide up and watching him sleep.

"Don't you know it's impolite to watch people sleep, you creep?" Hide mumbled, still with his eyes closed.

There was no response. The silence felt different, almost overbearing. He slowly pried his eyes open in the late afternoon sun, squinting at the dark shadow a few feet away. He blinked again, rubbing at the thin layer of crust along his eyelids.

Rakko's wide, gape-toothed smile filled Hide's immediate vision. He scrambled backwards, the sharp pain from moving his torso disappearing with a sharp intake of breath. He pressed against the tree trunk, too caught off-guard to clamber over it. He felt like he was cornered in the warehouse again, pinned and motionless under the ghoul's blazing, triumphant glare. He could hear the birds twittering nervously in the background; he imagined they were urging him to flee, but he couldn't tear his wide gaze away.

"Hmm? Where's your sharp tongue now, little bird?"

The response died on Hide's dry tongue. He tried to lick his lips, but his tongue wouldn't work, instead lying languidly in his mouth.

"I don't see that fire in your eyes anymore."

He reached out and clamped a pale hand around Hide's throat. His hand rippled on the neck ly after a strangled swallow from Hide. His grip tightened, pressing Hide backwards slightly.

"You aren't so tough without your ghoul to save you."

* * *

Kaneki was proud of himself, apart from one momentarily embarrassing event. He had been away for longer than he had planned, but after straying towards a berry bush, he couldn't help but pause to gather some for Hide. As he stared at the dark, round berries, he rolled one around on his palm and absently popped it in his mouth, wondering if they would be ripe enough for Hide. He immediately gagged and spat it out, blinking before he realized what he had done.

Feeling foolish indeed, Kaneki gently grabbed a few more berries to make up for the lost one and cupped them in his palm. He glanced up at the sinking sun. He should return to Hide soon. Their best chance of escaping unseen would take most of the night.

As he crashed through the thickets, loudly to warn Hide of his approach, he frowned at the empty clearing.

_Did I get lost? I swore this was whe—_

He broke off at the sight of his discarded cloak. It was flung aside and wrinkled. Kaneki moved towards it slowly, cautiously, as if Hide would leap out from underneath it.

"Hide…" Kaneki whispered, his voice sounding too hoarse and pitchy to his own ears. "Hide…?"

He swung his head around, desperately searching for clues to his best friend's disappearance. The berries dropped from his palm, striking the ground with muted  _plops._

"Hide! I'm here!" He couldn't hold it in anymore. He was shouting, louder than he should have, since he had noticed an Aogiri patrol only an hour earlier. "Where are you?!"

His wide eyes dropped to the grass. There were clumps of dirt and grass near the stump, like someone had kicked against the ground. Kaneki stared at them blankly before realizing what they meant. The mournful  _coo_  of a turtle dove echoed from the branches above him.

_Hide… No…_

His communicator blared to life, causing the few remaining birds to explode out of the trees with furious flaps of their wings. He tensed and stared down at the closed device clipped to his pants, lights pulsing in the darkening evening light. It only worked when it was near another communicator.

He flipped it open, pressing the cold plastic to his ear. Rakko's rolling chuckles poured from the speaker and filled the clearing like a thick, smothering fog.

"Looking for something, One-Eye?"

_"Rakko."_

"Your little bird?" Kaneki squeezed his eyes tightly. He felt like they had had this conversation already, but somehow it felt sharper, more dangerous. Rakko now knew how much Hide meant to him.

"Where is he?"

"Come to the warehouse. Midnight."

Kaneki opened his mouth—either to curse or perhaps hiss some frustrated threats—but the line went dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of the frying pan and iNTO THE FIRE. 
> 
> This will probably get wrapped up in a few chapters, so there won't be too many more cliffhangers. Thanks for readings! Let me know what you think!


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